


You Got My Head Spinning

by WalkingBumperSticker34



Series: Can't Keep My Eyes Off Of You [1]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Basketball Player Nicole Haught, Cheerleader Waverly Earp, Coming Out, F/F, Football player Nicole Haught, Slow Burn, Supportive Earp Siblings (Wynonna Earp), Wayhaught - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2019-09-06 01:24:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 62,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16822345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkingBumperSticker34/pseuds/WalkingBumperSticker34
Summary: Just another WayHaught High School AU that no one asked for lolWaverly Earp just wants freshman year to go off without a hitch. With a small town and her last name, it could be a tall order. Nicole Haught has just moved to Purgatory and is starting high school as the new kid. All she wants to do is blend in and have a smooth transition.What happens when these two girls meet and they discover that maybe what we plan for ourselves isn't always what life has planned for us?





	1. Freshman Year- The First Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello fellow Earpers!
> 
> I am SO excited to finally start sharing my first fic ever written! This idea came to me after I met a very special person at ClexaCon this year and she inspired me to start writing my own story. So this was entirely made possible by the encouragement and support of TacosAreTasty33 and I couldn't be more grateful to call her a friend and my beta for this fic.
> 
> This story has been a long time coming and it has been almost 6 months since I started writing it! Finding time to write can be a struggle but I have finished freshman year and so I wanted to share that with you guys! I plan on this fic continuing through all four years of high school and I have some amazing storylines in store for you guys so I can't wait!
> 
> This fic will cover so many different high school experiences: classes, sports, summer, parties, friendships, heartbreak, homecoming, prom, and so much more! And it definitely puts the slow in slow burn #sorrynotsorry
> 
> So buckle up guys...we are just getting started!
> 
> P.S. this fic was also inspired by the song You and Me by Lifehouse so go take a listen!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter serves as an introduction into this world. We get Waverly and Nicole arriving at school, their unfortunate first meeting, and a choice being made for one of our characters. We get flirting, confused feelings, best friend shenanigans, and an ending no one saw coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan is to update weekly (every Sunday) for these first 6 chapters and then I will go on a little hiatus to continue writing sophomore year.
> 
> Without further ado, here is Chapter One. Much love Earpers! <3

“I swear to God Waverly, if you do not shut off that alarm in the next two seconds, you are gonna wish you had never been born!” Wynonna huffs as she pulls her blankets over her head. “Normal people do not wake up at 6:00 in the morning!”

Waverly struggles to get her arm free from her blanket cocoon and reaches for her phone on the nightstand to silence her alarm. “Well maybe I’m not normal then!”

The brunette pulls off her covers as she hears Wynonna mumbling something else from across the hall, but decides it is not worth it to engage with her sister this early in the morning. It’s her first day of high school and she is not gonna let anything ruin starting the next four years on a good note.

Waverly gathers all of her things and goes to claim the bathroom first. She has to make sure she has enough time to make everything perfect today because first impressions are everything. Granted, in a small town like Purgatory, everyone already knows who you are, knows all your business, and probably knows more about yourself than even you do, but Waverly can’t help wanting to make sure everything goes right today.

An hour passes, and the freshman, who is now in her cheerleading uniform and putting the finishing touches on her hair and makeup, is startled out of her concentration by a loud, insistent knocking on the bathroom door.

“I also need in the bathroom sometime this week Waverly!” Wynonna seethes as she continues pounding on the door.

“Jesus Wynonna, calm down! I’m almost finished and then the bathroom is all yours!” Waverly rolls her eyes and opens the door just as Wynonna comes charging in like a bat out of hell.

“You better have left some hot water for me too or you won’t live to see your first day of high school,” Wynonna glares as they switch places.

“Everything is always so dramatic with you. Maybe if you woke up earlier you wouldn’t have such a problem getting ready in time,” Waverly taunts as she starts walking down the stairs for breakfast.

All the brunette gets as a reply is the slamming of the bathroom door as she’s walking away and she just shakes her head. Waverly knew today was going to be a rough day for Wynonna so she is trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Wynonna hasn’t had the best high school experience, to put it lightly, but she has never let it bother her. Or at least, she has never let it show that it does. But Waverly knows her sister better than that. She knows deep down, Wynonna is freaking out about being an upperclassman so Waverly will let this morning’s theatrics slide for now.

As the freshman gets to the bottom of the stairs and turns into the kitchen, she is greeted by Gus finishing up the traditional breakfast she makes for their first day of school.

“Sounds like you and Wynonna are getting along well this morning,” the sarcasm dripping from Gus’ statement not being lost on the girl.

“I don’t know what you are talking about Gus. We have plans to braid each other’s hair before we leave for school today,” Waverly winks as she puts the chocolate chip pancakes on her plate and grabs the syrup.

“The day I see that happen is the day pigs fly.” Gus puts the pancakes on a plate for Wynonna as she walks down the stairs and joins Waverly at the kitchen table. The tension radiating off of the older girl can be felt throughout the whole room. The girls sit and eat in silence and as Wynonna finishes up her breakfast, the mood starts to shift.

Gus walks over to Wynonna and puts her hand on her shoulder. “Is it safe to talk to you now that we have fed your inner demon?” The three women smile at their inside joke as Wynonna starts to laugh.

“Yeah Gus I think we’re safe,” the older sister turns to the younger, “I’m sorry for being an asshat this morning, babygirl.”

“Language!” Gus shakes her head as the older brunette looks away sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it. I have survived worse moods from you,” Waverly playfully shoves Wynonna’s shoulder, “Are you ready to get the first day of school started?”

Not wanting to snuff out the light in her younger sister’s eyes, she musters up as much enthusiasm as is possible for Wynonna Earp, grabs her keys, and heads for the front door.

“Well what are you waiting for? Let’s get your first day of high school started you adorable psycho.”  
______________________________________________________________________________

To say the sound of her alarm was the worst thing Nicole could hear that morning was the understatement of the century. The day had finally arrived that she had been hoping to avoid completely: her first day of high school. Normally Nicole would not be this against going to school because she actually enjoyed school, playing sports, seeing friends, etc., but this year was different. This year she was starting high school in a completely different town, far away from everyone she knows. Her mom had moved them from the big city to a small town called Purgatory. _Who names their town Purgatory anyway?_ All the redhead knew was this was going to be her own personal hell for sure.

Nicole’s alarm is still sounding as her mom knocks on the door and opens it slowly. Nicole is laying on her back in bed staring at the ceiling hoping this is just a bad dream she is going to wake up from. She makes no effort to move as her mom sits down on the edge and lays her hand on her daughter’s leg.

“Honey, your alarm has been going off for the last ten minutes. Blink once if you can hear me, blink twice if during the night you have suddenly gone deaf and are just reading my lips right now and I need to rush you to the emergency room!” Katherine teases as she reaches over and shuts off her daughter’s alarm.

The freshman rolls her eyes, “If I have suddenly become deaf mother, does that get me out of school today?”

“Ahh my young Padawan, unfortunately tipped your hand have you. Your response has given me the answers I seek and such treachery you shall not be able to get away with!”

“Oh my god mom, I am getting up now don’t worry. I am officially annoyed with my surroundings,” Nicole groans as she sits up in bed.

“Is everything alright sweetie? I know this move hasn’t been the easiest and if there is something I can do to help, you know I would right?” Nicole’s mom asks with a subtle desperation.

“Everything’s fine mom, I promise. I just didn’t get much sleep last night so I’m even less ready for today than I already was,” Nicole lies. If Nicole received anything else from her mother besides the red hair and the signature Haught dimples and charm, it was her ability to always put other people’s feelings before her own. And that’s exactly what the younger redhead chose to do now. As much as she was dreading going to school, she was not going to make her mom worry when she has so many other things she should be focused on.

Katherine leans over to give her daughter a kiss on the forehead, stands up, and heads for the door. She looks down at her watch and a frantic look washes over her face. “As great as our little morning discussion was, and I don’t want you to panic now, but you have about an hour to get ready for your first day of high school.”

“What?! Mom, you have got to be kidding me! You know I have a routine and you know how important first impressions are, especially at a new school! There’s no way I’m going to have time for everything now! What am I gonna do?!” Nicole springs out of bed and runs to gather all her things to get ready.

“Honey, first of all breathe. It’s gonna be ok. I will make sure your clothes are all ready to go and have breakfast for you when you get done with your shower. Then I will be driving you to school since we are both going to the same place and you will get there in plenty of time!” Her mom calls out as Nicole is frantically running around her room.

Thirty minutes later, Nicole walks into the kitchen to quickly eat before making sure she has everything ready to go.

“You look very nice today sweetie. You are gonna knock ‘em all dead. And if the amazing Haught genes don’t work on them, then the Haught charm will get ‘em,” her mom winks as she hands the freshman a bowl and her favorite cereal, Lucky Charms.

Nicole was definitely dressing to impress today; she couldn’t deny that. She had on a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a plain black tee underneath. Then she went with a simple pair of black skinny jeans and her white high top Converse.

“What mom, no Lucky Charms and rainbows joke this morning?”

When Nicole came out to her mother last year, Katherine had been nothing but supportive from the beginning. This “news” had changed absolutely nothing in her eyes because she was still the same Nicole she has loved her entire life. When her daughter finally told her, it was like a weight had been lifted off the young girl’s shoulders and she would be damned if she was gonna contribute to her daughter feeling that way ever again.

“Nah I figured you had heard the ‘with your favorite cereal being Lucky Charms I should have known sooner!’ joke too many times already so I spared you today.”

The redhead smiled and quickly finished up her cereal, double checking to make sure she had everything she needed. She took one last look in the mirror to give herself her daily pep talk because she was gonna need it today.

Under her breath she says one simple mantra, “You are a Haught and everything you do is fire.” As silly and stupid as it may sound, it always helps her put up the calm, collected, charming persona that is Nicole Haught when deep down, she is not as confident as she comes across. And she was definitely not going to let anyone at this school today find out that the new, mysterious, and smooth as silk jock was anything but those things. 

Nicole yells down the hallway to her mother, “Alright I’m ready! Let’s do this!”  
______________________________________________________________________________

Waverly and Wynonna pull into the parking lot of the school with so much time to spare before classes start that it almost makes Wynonna nauseous.

Wynonna parks the car and takes the keys out of the ignition. “I cannot believe I am at school so ungodly early. I feel like I need to go apologize to my bed for its abandonment issues.”

“Oh please, don’t be ridiculous. You can’t tell me you aren’t going to enjoy getting a few extra moments with your boy toy before classes start,” Waverly waggles her eyebrows as she takes one last look in the mirror before getting out of the car.

“Ok first of all, sleep is more important than boys. Always. Secondly, Dolls is more than just a boy toy we just haven’t discussed what that means yet. And lastly, go take your perfect cheerleader routine somewhere away from me or you are gonna ruin my street cred.”  


“Fine, I need to go find Chrissy anyway but don’t think we are done with this Dolls conversation just because I’m walking away!”

Before Waverly starts walking off, Wynonna grabs her and gives her a quick hug.

“Good luck with your first day babygirl. I know you will be amazing. You are Waverly Earp and everyone in Purgatory loves you, including me. If you tell anyone we had this conversation though, I will completely deny it.”

“Understood. And I love you too, Wynonna. Now go find Dolls and I will go meet up with Chrissy. Have a good first day of your junior year!”  
______________________________________________________________________________

Nicole’s mom unlocks the door to her office and the two redheads walk inside to prepare themselves for their first day in a new school.

“I’m sorry I made us a little later than you wanted today, Mom. I didn’t give you a chance to make sure your office was all ready to go...”

“Don’t worry about it honey. There’s only so much you can customize in a school nurse/athletic trainer’s office. Most of the office is just filled with supplies anyway. The office is the least of my worries right now. How are you holding up?”

“I think I’m doing pretty good actually. I really just want to dive in already because all the overthinking about what could happen is what’s really killing me right now.”

Katherine walks over and squeezes her daughter’s shoulder. “I have a really good feeling about this place. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You’re a Haught after all and on the rare occasion we don’t succeed on our first try, you have our charm to fall back on.”

“So comforting, so comforting...also thanks for that because there was no pressure in that statement at all,” Nicole’s sarcasm in full force towards her mother.

“I only want the best for my favorite daughter!”

“I am your only daughter...oh shoot I have to hurry up and get to the principal’s office to get my class schedule. Gotta run Mom!” Nicole starts to head out of her mom’s office.

“Just because you’re my only daughter doesn’t mean you have to be my favorite! I love you!” Katherine shouts as Nicole leaves.

“Love you too!” Nicole yells over her shoulder as she runs towards the principal’s office.  
______________________________________________________________________________

The reunion of Waverly and Chrissy could probably be heard two towns over and the closest town to Purgatory was over thirty miles away. It was like the girls hadn’t seen each other in years when it had actually only been like a week. But for the best friends who had been attached at the hip since they first met in Kindergarten, a week was like an eternity.

“I’m so glad you found me before the day started! I have some inside scoop that you might be interested in this morning...” Chrissy knew just how to catch Waverly’s attention because if there was one thing that could kill Waverly, it would be her curiosity.

“Alright, what do you got for me today? New teacher hired? Old teacher fired? What actually is in that mystery meat they serve in the cafeteria? Never mind, I probably don’t wanna know the answer to that one. Thank god I’m a vegetarian.” Waverly jokes as she grabs the books she needs out of her bag and places the rest of her things in her locker.

“You are actually fairly close...new student, our age, super smart, athletic, apparently drop dead gorgeous, basically the whole package, and...” Chrissy is about to continue when she is interrupted by the intercom system.

_Waverly Earp, could you please report to the principal’s office? Waverly Earp to the principal’s office._

“Why would I be called to the principal’s office on the first day of school?! Did I do something wrong when I registered or something? Did Wynonna get in trouble already this morning?” Chrissy could tell Waverly’s nervousness was building by the second and so she grabs her shoulders to steady the young girl.

“Waverly, look at me. Stop playing the what if game and just go see what’s going on. I’m sure it is nothing bad and you can totally fill me in when we have English together. Now go!”

Chrissy lightly shoves the other freshman in the direction of the principal’s office and Waverly takes off with a determination to figure out what could possibly be happening already on the first day of school.

As Waverly quickly rounds the last corner before the office door, she is abruptly stopped when a whirlwind of black, white, and red collides with her. The next thing she knows, everything is on the floor, including herself and if it was possible for her to be even more annoyed with the start of her day, Waverly was definitely at that point now.

“What in the actual hell just happened?!” Waverly fumes as she goes to pick up her papers and books that are now scattered all over the floor. The freshman is so angry she hasn’t even looked up yet to see who she has collided with. As she is reaching for her last book she is met with something warm and soft instead of feeling the hard cover of her book. 

She looks down at her hand that is now touching this other person’s hand and as much as she still wants to be mad at this person, a calming feeling has overtaken her. The brunette looks up for the first time and her hazel eyes are met with brown.

“I’m really sorry about that. I usually don’t have girls falling this hard for me already,” the redhead grins as she hands Waverly the book they are still holding together.

Waverly feels the loss as soon as the girl’s hand leaves her own. _Well that’s something strange that’s never happened before...and did she just say girls falling for her?! And how does someone have hair that is SO red?_ If the wheels turning in Waverly’s head could make a sound at this very moment, it would be deafening.

“I know I have been known to leave girls speechless but this could even be a new record for me...” the brown-eyed girl smirks as the two freshmen stand up, now facing each other.

“Does that line really work for you? I can’t imagine anyone falling for that terrible of a come-on.”

“I don’t know...why don’t you tell me?”

_Did this girl really just insinuate she had any affect on me in that way?_ A number of emotions cross over the brunette’s face and Nicole isn’t sure she is going to like the response she gets based on the current state of the cheerleader’s face.

“I really thought the worst part of this interaction was going to be falling on my ass but then you opened your mouth and proved me wrong.” Waverly instantly regretted how harsh that sounded as soon as it came out but this conversation has her more than a little confused right now.

If Waverly’s remark bothered Nicole, she didn’t let it show. “I apologize if I have offended you in any way. It’s just that when I see something I like, I don’t wanna wait.”

If the redhead could have put her foot any further in her mouth, that line definitely put her there. “Well if that doesn’t scream entitled--” Waverly starts to respond as the door to the principal’s office swings open and Mr. Nedley appears.

“Just the two girls I was looking for this morning! Get on in here and have a seat now so we can get down to business!” Nedley motions for the freshmen to have a seat in the chairs in front of his desk.

Nicole doesn’t know if there has ever been a time she has been more thankful for an interruption in a conversation with a beautiful girl than she is right now. She keeps running through their encounter over and over again in her head, trying to figure out where it went so horribly wrong. _I did everything right: I was chivalrous, my charm was on point, I was direct, but polite._ But what confused the girl even more was why she cared so much about what the first girl she met in Purgatory thought about her.  


Nicole is pulled out of her thoughts as Nedley continues talking to the girls. “Seems like you two have met already which is good. Makes my job easier.”

“Actually, we really haven’t yet sir. We just kinda bumped into each other on the way in,” the redhead smiles as she turns to the brunette, full dimples on display. “Name’s Nicole. Nicole Haught,” she says extending her hand out towards the other girl.

_Of course her last name is Haught. Could this be anymore cliché? And the dimples...I can’t even make this story up_ the brunette thinks to herself as she warily offers her hand to the girl sitting next to her. “Waverly Earp” she manages to squeak out as the contact with this girl’s hand gives her that same feeling as with the book before.

Their hands linger for a moment too long and now it was Nicole’s gears in her head turning. As their contact breaks, Nicole looks down at her hand then back up at the girl across from her. One look from those hazel eyes and the brown-eyed girl feels like her entire soul is on display. 

Something flashes across the cheerleader’s face but is gone just as quickly as it appeared. Nicole could not figure this girl out and to say that she was intrigued by Waverly was the understatement of the year.

“So now that the formalities are out of the way, I wanted to talk to you two about the start of this year.” The freshmen turn to face their principal, wondering what could possibly be coming out of his mouth next.

“Waverly, having lived in Purgatory your entire life, I’m sure you have concluded that Nicole is a new student here. We would really like the transition to go as smoothly as possible and we couldn’t think of a better person to help out with that than you.”

Waverly had a bad feeling she knew where this was conversation was going. She also knew that as much as she wanted to say no, she really wasn’t going to be able to because Nedley was not only the principal, but her best friend’s dad.

“Nicole is going to share a few classes with you, including your first period English class and she will also be a member of the football team, who will have their practices in conjunction with your cheerleading squad. The administration here really thought you would be the perfect person to serve as a peer mentor and make sure that Nicole starts off on the right foot.”

Nicole, having been a silent participant in this conversation thus far, finally speaks up. “I know it probably sounds like an awful babysitting job but I promise I will do whatever I can to make it worth your while.” The redhead throws a wink in her direction when Nedley is not looking and Waverly can’t count the number of times she has rolled her eyes since meeting this girl in the hallway moments ago.

“So what do you say Waverly? Will ya help us out?”

Seeing that she really didn’t have any other choice in the matter, the brunette agrees much to Nedley’s relief. He gives both the girls a copy of Nicole’s schedule and promises to check back in a couple of days to see how the new student is adapting to her surroundings. The freshmen are dismissed and both head out of the office towards their English class.

The first few moments of the girls walking together are filled with silence. The frustration radiating off of the shorter girl was almost overwhelming. Waverly could not believe she was going to have to be responsible for this infuriating girl standing next to her and the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she got.

Hoping to diffuse the current situation they were in, Nicole tries to start up a conversation. “So are there any teachers I need to be on the lookout for?”

“Don’t think so.”

“How about any classes that might be a challenge?”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Nicole realizes this is not going in the direction she intended it to so she tries a different approach. “Any clubs, groups, or activities I should get involved in?” Silence. “Anything fun to do in this town in general?” More silence. “I mean, you look like a girl that knows how to have a good time...”

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Waverly immediately stops in her tracks and before Nicole even turns around, she knows she made a mistake.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way at all! I just meant to say that I think I would enjoy spending time with you...” Nicole trails off before she can dig herself into a deeper hole.

_Now what is THAT supposed to mean...she would enjoy spending time with me?!_ Waverly starts to internally panic and instead of responding to Nicole, she takes off quickly for the door down the hall, leaving the redhead in her wake.

The football player jogs after the cheerleader and when she gets close enough, she reaches out to gently grab Waverly’s arm and turn her towards her. “Waverly, wait a minute. Please talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.” 

The brunette looks down at the redhead’s hand on her arm and tries to process how a simple touch from this girl she just met can make it feel like she’s been struck by lightning. The confusion she is experiencing from the difference between what her mind is telling her and what her body is feeling is becoming overbearing and Waverly feels like she is about to explode.

“Hey, Waves, will you please look at me?” Nicole pleads with the shorter girl as she lightly squeezes her arm. Upon hearing the nickname, hazel eyes dart up to meet brown and Waverly is met with the biggest puppy dog eyes she has ever seen on a human being. A sense of calm washes over Waverly and it no longer feels as though she is going to suffocate.

“I’m sorry for being such an asshole before. Is there any way we can start over?” Nicole asks as she lets go of Waverly’s arm.

Waverly can’t help but feel the sincerity of Nicole’s apology pouring off of her and decides to give her the benefit of the doubt. Waverly smiles as she sticks out her hand to introduce herself. “Hi, my name is Waverly Earp and I have been assigned to be your peer mentor. Remind me of your name again?”

Nicole grins wide enough to have her dimples on display once more. “Name’s Nicole Haught. I think we have English class together this morning?”

“I think you may be right,” Waverly goes to open the door to the classroom, “after you...” Waverly motions for the redhead to go inside the door and as Nicole goes to step forward, she trips over her own feet but manages to catch herself at the last possible moment.

“Be careful! Can’t have you falling for me now too,” Waverly teases as the girls walk through the door.

_You have no idea..._ Nicole thinks as the freshmen walk in to start the first class of the year.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Because of their meeting with the principal this morning, the two girls are the last couple of students to enter the classroom. Chrissy spots Waverly and flags her over to the spot she had been saving for her. Before the brunette goes over, she turns and looks at Nicole, mouthing an apology, as the only other seat open is clear across the room.

Nicole leans in to whisper in the shorter girl’s ear, “Don’t worry about it. Now I get to admire a beautiful girl from across the room. So who’s the real winner here?” The redhead smirks as she leaves the blushing cheerleader to get to her seat before class begins.

Waverly makes a beeline to her best friend and hastily slumps down in the chair ahead of her. Chrissy can sense the frustration building in her friend and deliberates how she wants to approach asking her what’s going on and who the hell she just walked into class with.

Chrissy decides to just go with the direct approach even if it might come back to bite her in the ass later. “So who is the hottie that you strode in with?! Because damn...”

Waverly whips around in her chair, “Only the most aggravating, egotistical, arrogant person I have probably ever met! Goes from being sweet one minute to a jackass the next! I don’t know who she thinks she is, but she’s got another thing coming if she thinks I’m gonna put up with that for the next couple weeks!”

“Dang, why don’t you tell me how you really feel? And why would you have to put up with her for the next couple of weeks if you didn’t want to?” The wheels in Chrissy’s head are turning trying to process all the information she had just been given. Waverly stays silent as she gives her friend a look, waiting for her to put the pieces together.

“Oh my god! That’s the smoking hot new student I was telling you about isn’t it?! Wow, my information was not wrong...”

“Chrissy! Seriously?!”

“What? I’m just saying...I mean, I have eyes Waverly. Anyone can see that girl is the entire package. Won’t be long before one of the guys swoops in and takes her off the market.”

_I don’t think that’s going to be a problem whatsoever,_ Waverly thinks to herself. “I wouldn’t get too far ahead of myself there. I think she’s a little short of the entire package.”

“Man, what could this girl have possibly done to you already? Oh! I got it now,” Waverly starts to panic as her friend continues, “My dad totally made you her peer mentor didn’t he? That’s how you know so much already this morning.”

Relief washes over Waverly when those are the words that come out of her mouth and nothing more. “Yes he did, and you don’t even know the half of it yet!”

Just then, Ms. Lucado brings the class to attention. “Good morning everyone. Welcome to your first class of your high school careers. Now I know most of you have known each other your entire lives but I am told that we have a new student joining us today. Nicole Haught, would you like to give the class a little wave for us all?”

All eyes shift to look at Nicole before she even moves. Everyone in the room already spotted the new student when she walked in. She was kind of hard to miss and the fact that she walked in with Waverly Earp only drew more attention to her.

All of a sudden, Waverly feels a book smack into the back of her shoulder. “What the hell, Chrissy?!”

“You didn’t tell me her last name was Haught! This just keeps getting better and better!” Chrissy laughs as she returns to a normal position at her desk.

After the introduction had finished and class started, Waverly couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching her. She looks out of the corner of her eye and sees the redhead looking at her from across the room. Their eyes meet for a brief moment before the brunette looks away and tries to concentrate on what Ms. Lucado is saying. They play this song and dance a couple more times throughout the period and when the bell sounds, Waverly could not be more thrilled to get out of the classroom.

Waverly gathers all her things and practically jumps out of her chair, leaving Chrissy calling after her. “I guess I will talk to you at lunch!” Chrissy yells as the cheerleader quickly escapes out of the room.

“Wow, you are fast for a cheerleader!” Waverly cringes as she hears the football player’s voice that she could now place anywhere.

“What, are you here to insult me some more?” Waverly asks as she turns around.

“Oh no! That’s not the way I meant it at all!” Nicole exclaims as she brings her hand up to cover her face. “I just have no idea where I’m going for my next class and with you being my peer mentor and all, I thought you could tell me where my next few classes are before lunch.”

“Oh right...let me take a look.” Waverly looks at Nicole’s schedule, gives her the basic information she needs, and heads off towards her next class in a hurry.

“Thank you!” Nicole shouts as the shorter girl makes her getaway leaving her standing in the hallway confused once again by this girl she just met. _I will figure you out yet Waverly Earp if it’s the only thing I do._  
______________________________________________________________________________

The next few classes pass by in a blur for Nicole and she is pretty sure she has gotten so much information, her head could explode at any moment. She is also fairly confident everyone in the school knows who she is already, which is such a crazy concept to her. At her old school, she could meet someone in the hall that she could swear she had never seen before in her life. The freshman is not sure she is a big fan of that fact but a small school does have its perks too. Nicole has met one of her teammates on the football team and plans to sit with them at lunch.

Nicole walks in the lunchroom, eyes scanning the tables for the teammate she met earlier in the day. Dolls spots her and waves her over to their table, where there is another guy and girl sitting that she hasn’t met yet. She met Dolls in her earlier gym period and figured out that he is a sophomore and the starting quarterback for the small Purgatory team.

“Hey Nicole! Have a seat. You haven’t met these two yet I don’t think but this is John Henry, a junior and the kicker on the football team.”

John holds out his hand for Nicole to shake, “Name’s John Henry but most people around here call me Doc. Don’t ask how I got that nickname because to be honest, I don’t even remember anymore.”

Dolls continues, “And this is Wynonna Earp. She is also a junior and we just so happen to be dating as well.”

Nicole is sure that her eyes get twice as big as normal when Dolls introduces her to Wynonna. There was something familiar about the girl even before she figured out who she was and the freshman knew there was no way that she wasn’t related to Waverly.

“Earp huh? I’m guessing that means you are related to Waverly then?” Nicole asks casually even though she already knows the answer.

“Yep, Waverly would be my younger sister. That lucky bastard.” Wynonna shakes her head as she shoves some of her lunch in her mouth.

“Umm...what?” Nicole is thoroughly confused by Wynonna’s response and waits for the girl to swallow the insane amount of food in her mouth to explain.

“I mean I have always wondered what it was like to have a fucking awesome sister and she gets to experience that, hence me calling her a lucky bastard.”

“I mean I’m sure Waverly is pretty awesome too...” _Dang it Nicole, you are letting your gay show...dial it down a couple notches._

“Sure, if you like the goody two shoes, teacher’s pet routine. I like to live my life a little more on the edge if you know what I mean.” Wynonna smirks as Dolls looks in her direction.

“I definitely know what you mean.” Dolls winks as the two move closer to each other.

“Alright, guys break it up. I am trying to eat over here. And we don’t need to scar the poor freshman on her first day.” Doc chides the handsy couple.

But Nicole’s attention is no longer on her lunch companions as she spots Waverly walking into the lunchroom and sees her sit down a couple tables over.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Waverly could not be more relieved when lunch time came around. This first day of high school was not turning out the way she had planned it. A majority of the reasons could all boil down to a certain redhead and naturally that was the only thing people wanted to talk about today.

The cheerleader grabs her tray of food and goes to sit down at one of the tables to wait for her friends to join her. She knows when her best friend shows up, she is going to get a mouthful because of the way she left things after English class. As if summoned by thought alone, Waverly sees Chrissy walking her way.

“Ok, so do you mind explaining what the hell happened today in English?” Chrissy wastes no time getting straight to the point.

“It’s just nothing is going the way I had planned today! I was supposed to have a nice, easy transition into high school and since the moment I got to school, it has been nothing but chaos. And it’s all because of her! She needs to either get off her high horse or go ride it somewhere else far away from here! And she needs to stop looking in my direction right now or so help me--”

“Jeez Waverly, what is it about this girl that’s got your panties in a twist?”

Waverly can’t hide the blush creeping up to her cheeks, “Don’t think for one minute that she has had any effect whatsoever on my panties.”

“Ok, sorry, my bad. No effect on your panties, got it. But don’t you think you are being a little harsh on this girl?” Chrissy knows there is something else going on here but before Waverly can answer, they are joined by a couple of the other girls from the cheer squad.

“What girl are we talking about now? Let me guess, gotta be the new girl. I mean, she is staring over here after all.” Rosita rambles as she gives Nicole a flirtatious wave. Nicole looks away quickly, having been caught looking in the cheerleaders’ direction.

“Hello to you too, Rosita. How’s your day been? Mine’s been great, thanks for asking.” Chrissy responds sarcastically, hoping it will send the girl away.

“I get it Chrissy, you don’t like me and that’s fine. But we thought we would come check in with our favorite little freshman on the squad and see how the first day of high school is treating her?”

“Thanks Rosita, it has been alright. Classes are good so far and I’m getting to see my friends again, so things are going swimmingly.” Waverly lies through her teeth. She is not about to have this conversation with a bunch of sophomores she barely even knows. The last thing she needs is rumors to start going around the school too.

“Glad to hear it! We have a couple other girls we wanna check on yet at lunch so we will let you guys get back to it. We will see you at practice Waverly! A pleasure as always Chrissy.” Rosita sneers as she saunters off with the rest of the squad.

“Ugh I literally cannot stand that girl! I don’t know how you put up with her on a daily basis...”

“Well I really only have to worry about her during cheer so it’s not all that bad. Plus she is nice to me. I don’t know why she doesn’t like you. My problem right now is the new girl.” Waverly sighs as she puts her head in her hands.

“You mean Haught-y with a body? See what I did there?” Chrissy laughs, slapping her best friend’s arm to make sure she heard her before continuing. “Well you better figure it out because she is on her way over here right now.”

“What?!” Waverly startles to attention and subtly uses her phone to check her appearance before the other girl reaches their table. Chrissy catches Waverly in the act and narrows her eyes but stays silent and tries to figure out what is going on with these two.  


“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Nicole nonchalantly strides up to their lunch table. “I don’t think I have officially met you yet,” the redhead sticks out her hand to the girl sitting across from Waverly. “I’m Nicole--”

Chrissy grabs Nicole’s hand and gets a huge grin on her face. “Oh don’t worry Haughtstuff. I most definitely know who you are already. The name’s Chrissy Nedley and before you ask, yes that Nedley. And no, I am not your typical principal’s daughter.”

Chrissy holds on to Nicole’s hand for a few moments longer than Waverly thinks is necessary before Waverly clears her throat, “What is that supposed to mean, Chrissy?”

“Miss Haughtshot over here knows what I mean don’t worry,” Chrissy winks at the blushing football player before finally letting go of her hand.

If looks could kill, the look Waverly was giving her best friend right now would definitely be sending her to an early grave. As Nicole watches the interaction between the two girls, she becomes increasingly more uncomfortable by the second.

Deciding to stop whatever is happening right now, Nicole interrupts the staredown between the friends. “Hey Waves, can I borrow you for a sec?”

The shock on Chrissy’s face could not be hidden at the sound of the nickname leaving the new girl’s mouth. Waverly was not one who was very fond of nicknames and only let one person call her that and that person was Wynonna. Chrissy braces herself for the onslaught that is about to come down on this poor girl.

“Yeah sure. I think we were about done here anyway,” Waverly responds as she gets up from the table to take her tray back. “Walk with me?”

Nicole tips an imaginary hat in Chrissy’s direction as the two girls turn to leave. “It was a pleasure to finally meet you.”

With a dumbfounded look on her face, all Chrissy can do is smile and nod. Waverly looks back over her shoulder to her best friend as if to give her a silent warning to not say anything more about this conversation.

Nicole motions for Waverly to walk ahead of her and a slow smile starts to spread across Chrissy’s face as she processes everything that just happened. _Trust me Nicole, the pleasure is about to be all mine. One day Waverly, you are gonna thank me for what I’m about to do._  
______________________________________________________________________________

“So not to be nosy or anything, but what was that back there?” Nicole asks carefully, not wanting to make the situation any worse.

Waverly dumps her tray and looks up at the taller girl, “That was just Chrissy being Chrissy. Don’t worry though, her antics are usually pretty harmless.”

“Just usually huh?”

“Yeah, I try not to over promise when it comes to her. She can be quite the handful sometimes,” Waverly laughs as Nicole’s face grows more and more concerned. “But anyway, I’m guessing you needed to talk to me about the rest of your classes for the day?”

“Yeah, do you mind taking a look at my schedule again?”

As Nicole hands Waverly her schedule, their hands touch for the briefest moment and Waverly swears she forgets how to breathe. She manages to compose herself and hopes the redhead didn’t notice her brain’s involuntary short circuit.

“Well it looks like we actually have Geometry together next period and then I can point out the rest of the classes afterwards if that works for you?”

“That sounds great! Lead the way...” Nicole sweeps her arm out in front of her dramatically as Waverly smiles and the two freshman head towards their math class.

Geometry goes by fairly quickly and painlessly and Waverly pulls Nicole aside once they leave the classroom to go over the rest of the day with her.

“Does that make sense? I know you probably have a lot of information floating around in your head right now but I hope I’m somewhat helping at least...” Waverly looks expectantly at the girl next to her.

“It does make sense and Waverly you have more than helped me out today. I don’t know what I would have done without you to be honest so thank you.” Nicole hands the brunette a folded up note as she heads off to her next class.

Waverly looks down at the note in her hands and wonders what could possibly be important enough that Nicole had to write it down instead of just telling her. _Stop monologuing in your head and just read it and maybe you would find out._ She opens the note and reads the football player’s perfect handwriting: If you were an angle, you’d be acute one.

The cheerleader snorts and rolls her eyes at the ridiculous line she just read. _Of course the note wasn’t anything important. I shouldn’t have expected anything different._ If it was anyone else, that note would have found the next available trash can but for reasons unbeknownst to Waverly, she sticks the note in her backpack without a second thought and walks to her next class.  
______________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the school day and practices go by pretty quickly and without a hitch. Waverly is talking to Rosita and a couple of the other cheerleaders outside the locker room as Nicole walks out and starts to head home.

Waverly says her goodbyes and jogs to catch up to the redhead. “Walking home today?”

“Yeah I told my mom not to wait up for me and that I would just walk home after practice.” Waverly looks confused so Nicole continues, “She’s the nurse and athletic trainer so she had to be here for practice too.”

“Ok that makes more sense now. Which direction are you heading? Wynonna never sticks around after school so I have to walk home also.”

Nicole points off to her right and hopes it is the same direction Waverly has to travel as well.

“Well it’s your lucky day Haught. I’m going that way too. Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all! After you, as always.”

The two girls fall in line next to each other and start making small talk. They ask each other about their first day of high school and how practice was. If there were any teachers they weren’t big fans of already or if any teachers already assigned them homework on the first day. Their conversation flows easily and much earlier than Nicole would have liked, Waverly has stopped outside of a brown two-story house.

“Well this is me. I hope you don’t have too much further to go yourself,” Waverly looks to the other girl for reassurance.

“You’re not gonna believe this but if you look across the street and down about two houses...you see that gray house with those atrocious burgundy shutters? That would be where I live. So I have a long journey ahead and it’s going to be really tough but I think I can make it.”

“You poor thing...I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to sleep tonight without knowing whether or not you made it back one piece,” Waverly gasps as she dramatically places her hand on her heart.

“Well I know one way we can fix that problem. Why don’t you give me your number and I can let you know if I make it back home safe?”

“Nice try Haught. You’re good, but I’m pretty immune to the overconfident, smug jock thing you got going on here.”

Nicole smiles bringing her dimples on display again as she leans down invading all of Waverly’s personal space to whisper in her ear. “That sounded like a challenge to me Waverly Earp. I just want you to know that I never lose.”

Nicole goes to stand up at her regular height but before she can get there, she feels a tug on the back of her neck holding her in place.

“Well there’s a first time for everything...” Waverly whispers back in her ear before turning around and walking up the sidewalk to her house. _Where the hell did that come from?!_ Waverly shakes her head as she walks through the front door.

The back of Nicole’s neck burns where Waverly’s hand had just been as she stands at the end of the sidewalk dumbfounded. Nicole turns to walk the rest of the way down the block to her house and can’t help the smile that seems to be permanently plastered on her face every time she is around the brunette. _I don’t know what the hell that was, but challenge accepted Waverly Earp._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope we enjoyed the first chapter! Let me know what you guys think! You can hit me up on here or find me on Twitter @flugge34
> 
> Next chapter is a big one...the longest one I have written thus far! Join me next week as we have a freshman lock-in overnight at the school! Because nothing can go wrong when you get a bunch of teenagers together in a relatively small area, right? Right…….


	2. Freshman Year- Lock-In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Purgatory High has a tradition of a freshman lock-in overnight to familiarize the students with the school and each other. Putting that many teenagers together for multiple hours can only mean smooth sailing right? Prepare for a crazy roller coaster ride as this chapter introduces us to new characters and follows WayHaught through their emotionally charged night. We get movie night, art painting, dodgeball, video games, and an intense game of truth or dare. Will things ever be the same after this night of complete debauchery?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back for another chapter Earpers! Can you believe it has already been a week?!
> 
> I absolutely cannot wait to share this chapter with you guys as it was one of my favorites to write for this school year. It is the longest chapter of freshman year and there is A LOT that happens during this one night!
> 
> I have a couple of links to help make the reading experience better for you guys so feel free to check them out!
> 
> -Guitar Hero scene with Nicole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0go2nfVXFgA  
> -Just Dance scene with Waverly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIcvijDiCTo
> 
> ***WARNING!!!!!***
> 
> There are a couple of scenes that you might want to skip over if you don't want to read bullying or homophobic language. Skip over the start of the dodgeball scene with Nicole, Waverly, and Champ and the restroom scene with Waverly, Stephanie, and Beth if you do not feel comfortable reading scenes of that nature.
> 
> And without further ado, here is Chapter Two! Much Love Earpers! <3

The next few weeks of school go by uneventfully and past the first couple days of school, Waverly and Nicole have not had much time to interact besides the occasional hello on the way to class or practice. Nicole has been frustrated by this fact more than she would like to admit, but is hoping her luck is about to change.

It’s the first Friday night where there’s no football game, which means it is finally the night of the freshman lock-in. Purgatory High has been buzzing all day in anticipation for the inevitable shenanigans happening in the next couple of hours. The final bell sounds and the freshmen all grab their things and meet in the gymnasium for further instructions.

“Freshmen, as you are walking in, put your belongings against the wall and find a seat so we can get started!” Ms. Lucado commands as the freshmen file into the gym. Waverly and Chrissy set their things down and go find a seat. 

Waverly spots Nicole sitting a few rows back and a small smile breaks across her face. Chrissy looks at her best friend and follows where her eyes are looking until she also spots the redhead in the bleachers. _Of course, I should have known,_ Chrissy laughs to herself. _This plan is going to get knocked out of the park tonight._

As the last of the freshmen find a seat, Ms. Lucado addresses the class. “Alright listen up! Here’s the agenda for the night. First, you guys are going to the auditorium to watch a movie. Then once that is over, you will eat dinner in the cafeteria. After eating, we will split you guys into three groups and do a rotation of activities including dodgeball in the gym, canvas painting in the art room, and video games in the study hall room. Then, we will have an ice cream break and the last hour will be a free hour until lights out at midnight. So, if everyone wants to start heading to the auditorium, we will get started!”

The freshmen all start to leave the gymnasium and somehow Nicole ends up ahead of the two friends as they are walking down the hallway. Chrissy smirks and out of nowhere yells, “Hey Nicole! Wait up!”

Waverly quickly looks over at Chrissy as if she just yelled fire in a crowded room, “What are you doing?!”

“I’m being nice to the new girl, unlike someone I know...”

Waverly rolls her eyes, “I already have to put up with one giant ego. What makes you think I want to willingly subject myself to another?”

“Now, that would hurt if my ego wasn’t so big already. But it’s not going to kill you to hang out with her for one night, I promise.”

Upon hearing her name, Nicole had stopped and waited for the two girls to catch up. “Hey Chrissy, what’s up?”

“Oh not much...was just wondering if you wanted to sit with us during the movie?”

Seeing Waverly look as though she is in physical pain at the moment, Nicole turns to her before answering Chrissy. “Is that alright with you Waverly?”

Nicole’s voice seems to break her out of her trance as she answers. “What me? Yeah! Yeah...totally cool.”

Although Nicole doesn’t complete buy it, she follows the friends into the auditorium, relieved that she has someone to hang out with. All the football players she is friends with are older than her and one of the only other freshman on the team is Champ Hardy and she doesn’t want to be anywhere near that, if at all possible.

Chrissy leads the trio to where they are sitting, with Waverly in the middle and Nicole on her other side. _Plan perfectly executed_ Chrissy silently commends herself on her small victory. The first she hopes of many others to happen throughout the night.

Nicole turns towards the girls, “So do we know what movie we will be watching tonight?”

“A little birdie might’ve given me some inside information...”

Waverly chuckles and gives her friend a look, “If by little birdie you mean yourself telling your dad which movie to choose, then sure we’ll go with that.”

Chrissy puts her hand on her heart and feigns being offended, “First of all, don’t hate me cause you ain’t me. Secondly, I can’t help that I have such good taste in movies. And lastly, you’re just upset that Haught is going to be my new best friend once she finds out what movie I chose.”

“Well now I’m offended! You would just throw away an almost 10 year friendship that easily?” Waverly is joking but starts to jut out her bottom lip anyway.

“Oh no! Don’t you dare start with the whole pouting thing...you know absolutely no one is immune to that thing and it’s so not fair!”

Waverly shrugs her shoulders and continues to pout at Chrissy while Nicole looks at the two girls with admiration for this deep friendship that is very evident any time they are in the same room.

“You know no one could ever replace you!” Chrissy throws her arm around the cheerleader in an adorable attempt at a side hug and Waverly puts the pout away, content with that answer.

“But now that we have been super rude and holding out on Haught over here...I will give you five words. Badass. Gorgeous. Brunette. Accent. Superhero.” Chrissy waits a few seconds for Nicole to process and then continues as she sees the light bulb moment happen, “Yep that’s right...get ready to get all Haught and bothered cause we about to watch Wonder Woman!”

Waverly rolls her eyes as her best friend uses yet another pun with poor Nicole’s last name. She looks over at Nicole and sees her face get super red and hopes that Chrissy doesn’t notice it as well but unfortunately for Nicole, she does.

“Well Haught damn, I didn’t know that anything could be as red as your hair but your face is giving it a pretty good run for its money,” Chrissy smirks. “So what does it for ya? Is it the whole badass superhero thing? Or is it the accent because I mean c’mon that just makes anyone like ten time hotter?” Chrissy pauses for a second. “Nope, wait...everything makes way more sense now. It’s totally the gorgeous brunette thing isn’t it?!”

Nicole has a deer in the headlights look and so Waverly tries to help out and reaches over to give her leg a quick squeeze, “Don’t feel like you have to answer this crazy person over here if you don’t want to.”

Nicole looks down at her leg, burning under Waverly’s touch and tries to will any air to enter her lungs again so she can respond. _C’mon, think of something to draw away any attention from the way you react to Waverly…_ “You almost caught me Chrissy but I’m actually more of a blonde girl...so what are you doing after this? Cause I’ve got a big lesbian crush on you!”

Even though Waverly knows Nicole was just joking, her hand flies off Nicole’s leg when those words come out of her mouth. Chrissy is rendered speechless and the redhead is mentally chastising herself for maybe taking it a little too far. The way the brunette’s hand left her leg so quickly, Nicole can’t help but wonder if it’s because of the crush on her best friend remark (which is totally false) or the use of the L word. Either way, she couldn’t be more thankful when the movie starts to play and saves her from putting her foot in her mouth even further.

Chrissy watches as the two girls stay completely rigid in their seats for basically the whole first half of the movie. Much to Chrissy’s relief, she notices Waverly starting to do what she always does during movies, which is never making it to the end because she starts dozing off. It really never fails and if there is one thing Chrissy can count on when it comes to Waverly and movies, it’s that. _Now it’s time for me to put phase one of my plan in place._

Chrissy makes sure she is far enough away from Waverly in her seat and waits for the inevitable to happen. Sure enough, the cheerleader starts to lean in Chrissy’s direction but quickly realizes her friend is not close enough, so unwittingly the girl starts to lean in Nicole’s direction and is rewarded when her head comes in contact with the taller girl’s shoulder.

Out of the corner of her eye, Chrissy sees Nicole momentarily tense up at the contact and then almost immediately relax as she looks down at the girl sleeping on her shoulder. Chrissy smirks when she sees the look of adoration in the football player’s eyes and stealthily pulls out her phone to take a picture. _That fool is already so far gone...this is gonna be a piece of cake when it comes to her. Now it’s just gonna be making the stubborn fool figure out what’s going on here._

Nicole stays as still as she possibly can throughout the last half of the movie in an attempt to make sure the girl sleeping on her shoulder does not wake. She tells herself it is for Waverly’s benefit, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying the situation she was finding herself in at the moment.

The credits start to roll and Nicole reluctantly realizes she is going to have to wake the brunette next to her. Not thinking anything of it, the redhead starts to move Waverly’s hair out of her face. “Hey Waves...the movie is over now...time to wake up.”

Waverly audibly hums with contentment and burrows down further into Nicole’s shoulder. Nicole can’t help but laugh at her reaction, which causes Waverly to startle awake. Chrissy gives her a moment to get her bearings straight and then hits her friend in the arm. “Welcome back sleeping beauty! On a scale of 1-10, how was sleeping with--I mean on--Haught over here?”

Waverly ignores Chrissy and turns to Nicole with a look of pure humiliation on her face, “I’m really sorry about that. You know you could have woken me up though right?”

“I thought about it but you looked so peaceful and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s not a big deal...don’t worry about it.”

The two girls continue to look at each other for a moment and just the simple act of brief eye contact with one another causes the tension that was once there, to slowly fade away.

“Alright, well since that was very anticlimactic, can we please go get our pizza?!” Chrissy pleads as she is about to fall out of her chair.

“Trust me, you don’t want to stand between Chrissy and her pizza. Made that mistake once...never again.” Waverly shudders as the trio gets up to leave.

Once outside the auditorium, Nicole gently grabs Waverly’s arm to hold her back for a second and leans down to whisper in her ear. “Hey, about what Chrissy said back there earlier? I just wanted you to know that you can sleep with me any time.”

Nicole quickly straightens back up and starts walking away smugly. Waverly stands in place trying to register the words that just came out of the taller girl’s mouth and then yells back at her. “O--on...on you!”

“Yep that too!” Nicole smiles as she yells back and continues heading towards the cafeteria. Waverly cannot believe the audacity this girl has to just blatantly flirt with her like 24/7. _I mean she knows I’m not even gay...I mean at least I don’t think I am..._ Waverly shakes herself out of her thoughts and starts following the redhead to the lunch room.

As they walk into the cafeteria, Waverly can see Chrissy already sitting down and well on her way to demolishing her share of pizza. Nicole has grabbed her food and is looking like a lost puppy dog until Chrissy waves her over to join her at the table. The brunette sighs as she realizes she is probably not going to get out of being around the football player tonight. Yet to be determined if that feeling is actually because of the company or the confusing feelings regarding said company.

Nicole has sat down to the right of Chrissy and so when Waverly walks over to their table, she sits on the left, much to the dissatisfaction of her friend. Chrissy can feel the tension radiating off the cheerleader and she wishes she could tell her to stop fighting so hard but unfortunately it is not the time nor place for that conversation. So the three girls end up eating most of their pizza in an awkward silence until it is time to go back to the gym to be split into groups for the rest of the night’s activities.

As all the freshmen file back into the gymnasium, the trio finds a place to sit in the bleachers to wait for further instructions. The last of their classmates sits down and Ms. Lucado starts splitting them into groups and telling them which activity they will be heading to first. To the dismay of the best friends, they are not put in the same group, but as Waverly listens further she hears Nicole’s name be put in the same group as her. Waverly can’t help but laugh at the luck she has had lately. _At least we are starting out with the art activity. Probably be the highlight of my whole night._

The kids go off in their groups and the girls head to the art room to paint their canvases. Once in front of their easel, the freshmen are instructed to paint their favorite place to be. Waverly and Nicole set up shop across from each other and Nicole smiles at how cliché the whole thing is. As the girls spend the next hour painting, Waverly notices Nicole looking her way a couple times but she stays concentrating on her art as much as possible.

As the art time comes to an end, Nicole walks over to Waverly with her canvas. “If I show you mine, will you show me yours?” She winks at the shorter girl and Waverly rolls her eyes.

“As terrible as that line was, I can probably be persuaded...but you have to show me yours first.”

“It would be my pleasure.” Nicole smiles, dimples on display, as she turns her canvas towards the other girl. “Just go easy on me, I’m not the most artistically talented person.”

As Nicole turns her canvas around, Waverly is met with a snapshot of someone relaxing next to the tranquil water’s edge. And although Nicole was right in the fact that she is not the next Picasso, there is still something about the painting that draws Waverly in and she can’t quite put her finger on it.

“I think you are too hard on yourself. There’s definitely something captivating about it for sure.” 

Nicole shyly smiles at the compliment, “Thanks, I have always felt a sort of connection to the water. It can be so calming and soothing when everything else around it is in chaos. Kind of reminds me of myself sometimes.”

“Yeah I get that...you have this aura about you that just makes me feel at peace.”

Both girls are blushing as Nicole becomes anxious about Waverly’s canvas, “Is it okay if I see yours now?”

“Of course...and be gentle when it comes to my abilities as well.” Waverly slowly turns her canvas around and watches Nicole while she takes in her painting. 

Nicole has to stop herself from audibly gasping at the beautifully captured serenity of nature and the outdoors. Waverly had painted a path with trees on either side, complete with wildflowers and a setting sun. She may not be a professional artist, but Nicole thought she had to be pretty damn close.

Waverly hasn’t taken her eyes off Nicole since she turned her canvas around and is trying not to be overwhelmed by the emotions crossing over the redhead’s face. Both girls are holding their breath for two totally different reasons, waiting for the other to say something.

Nicole finally breaks the silence, “Waves...I am like speechless. Your painting is absolutely gorgeous.”

Waverly’s eyes dart down to the floor, as the compliment brings a redness to her cheeks again. “I know I messed up in a couple places but I hope they didn’t ruin the entire thing.”

“Hey,” Nicole cups Waverly’s elbow until the girl looks back up at her. “You are extraordinary Waverly Earp. I don’t know whoever told you different, but they were wrong.”

Hazel eyes lock with brown the moment the comment leaves the redhead’s mouth. Neither girl can tear their eyes away from the other; both having a million thoughts running through their head. It isn’t until the pair is jarred out of their daydream by the announcement to move on to the next activity that they finally break their shared gaze.

The football player and cheerleader walk in a comfortable silence towards the gymnasium. As they near the doors Waverly clears her throat, “Well, looks like it’s time for the activity I have been looking forward to the whole night...”

Sensing the sarcasm in the other girl’s tone, Nicole opens the door to the gym and beckons Waverly to walk through ahead of her. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” she says as she comedically puffs out her chest in an attempt to make the brunette smile.

Waverly rolls her eyes but can’t help the smile that creeps onto her face. “I’ll have you know that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself thank you very much.”

Nicole looks at the girl next to her, who is now standing with her hand on her hip and full of sass. The taller girl can’t help but laugh when she imagines what would happen if someone crossed this spitfire when she was in one of these moods. “I don’t doubt that at all Waves.”

The dodgeball game gets set back up after the last group and the two girls look across at who their competition is for the next hour. Nicole is scanning the other team to see who she needs to focus on and tenses up when she hears a familiar laugh and her eyes soon find the owner: Champ Hardy. _Of course my team gets matched up against his. Because why wouldn’t it?_

The teams come to the center line to listen to their gym teacher, Mr. Crofte, recite the rules. After he has finished, Champ walks up to Nicole and Waverly with his usual cocky bravado, “Looks like your team has a bunch of girls on it...it’s almost not even fair for us to play you.”

“What are you insinuating Champ?” Waverly has her sass back and Nicole smiles slightly as she anticipates this conversation ending badly for the boy.

“I’m just saying there’s no possible way your team is going to beat my team,” Champ looks over at Nicole and continues, “Besides, a girl’s place isn’t playing sports, it’s--”

Nicole tenses up and clenches her hands into fists as Waverly interrupts the ignoramus, “Last time I checked, it was 2018 Champ and girls can do whatever they want.”

“Blah blah blah feminism blah...still doesn’t change the biggest reason for why we are going to win though.” He leans in and invades Waverly’s personal space, “Girls just can’t resist having my balls in their face.”

As soon as those words leave his mouth, Nicole has had more than enough and steps in between Champ and Waverly. “Well lucky for my team then that I don’t want your balls anywhere near my face. I think you should move along before I do something we'll both regret.”

Champ and Nicole are now standing face to face, eyes locked in an intense staredown. Champ sneers, “What do I care about what some ginger dyke has to say about me?”

“What did you just call me?!” 

Something inside Nicole snaps and she shoves Champ hard enough that he falls to the ground. Waverly quickly grabs Nicole’s arm and tries to hold her back as Champ scrambles back up from the floor. Mr. Crofte makes it over to the group just in time to stop Champ from retaliating.

“What is going on over here?! We haven’t even begun playing yet and you want to start a fight?” Mr. Crofte looks back and forth between Champ and Nicole, “Do we need to have you two call it a night already or can we act like young adults here?”

Neither Champ nor Nicole make any more moves towards the other but they don’t speak up either so Waverly decides to break the silence for them, “Sorry Mr. Crofte, I can assure you that we will ALL act more appropriately and we can get the games started now.”

Mr. Crofte nods and Waverly pulls Nicole to their side of the court as she still has Nicole’s arm in her grasp. “Do you mind explaining to me what happened back there?”

When the redhead’s eyes meet the brunette’s, Waverly notices there is an emptiness to them that she has never seen before. “Don’t worry about it Waves...it’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

Before Waverly can respond, the whistle is sounding for the start of the first game. The cheerleader can tell the taller girl is not in this game from the very beginning. Nicole hangs back and lets the game play out while making sure she doesn’t get eliminated. Waverly, being too focused on trying to make sure their team doesn’t get completely demolished the first game, doesn’t realize that Nicole has done a little more than just hanging in the background. If it wasn’t for a few well placed throws by Nicole, Waverly would have definitely been hit by now.

Before the two girls know it, everyone else on their team has been eliminated and they are left to face Champ and two other guys on his team. Nicole goes on the offensive and easily takes out one of the three remaining guys. Waverly, wanting to be value added to the team, goes after a ball rolling across the floor but makes a fatal mistake by turning her back to the other team. Nicole looks up just in time to see Champ drawing his arm back to unload an attack on Waverly.

Without thinking, Nicole sprints across the width of the court and launches herself in front of Waverly as the ball leaves Champ’s hand. Waverly turns around just in time to see a blur of red go by her and hears the sound of a ball making hard contact with something, or in this case, someone. 

As the football player slides across the floor and comes to a stop, Waverly’s focus becomes all about her and she carelessly throws a ball in the air so Champ can easily catch it and the game can be over. She doesn’t even wait to see if he caught it before she is rushing over to Nicole who is still on the ground.

“Oh my god Nicole, are you okay?!” Waverly kneels down next to her and places her hand gently on her arm. When Nicole doesn’t respond, Waverly tries not to panic and squeezes her arm to see if that will get a response out of the girl.

“………….can’t………….breathe………….” Nicole manages to squeak out while laying in the fetal position and mentally chastising herself for running across the gym like that.

Waverly realizes Nicole has gotten the wind knocked out of her and starts to slowly run her hand up and down Nicole’s arm to try and calm her down. “Nic, I need you to try and take deep breaths for me. It’s gonna be okay. Can you try and breathe with me?”

Waverly starts taking deep breaths in an attempt to get the redhead to focus on her breathing. Nicole tilts her head up towards the cheerleader and when their eyes meet, Nicole starts to take in slow, deep breaths, matching Waverly’s. After a few moments, Nicole’s breathing normalizes and Waverly goes to take her hand off her arm. Before she can, Nicole quickly brings her hand to cover Waverly’s.

“How did...you know to...do that?” Nicole asks as she brings herself into a seated position while never breaking eye or physical contact with the girl sitting in front of her.

“I don’t know to be honest. I just knew I had to try and fix it as soon as possible.” Nicole sees something flash across the girl’s hazel eyes before Waverly looks down and breaks their locked gaze. “I don’t know why you would do that for me...”

Nicole squeezes Waverly’s hand to get her attention and waits until she is rewarded with eye contact once again. Waverly looks up and is almost overwhelmed at the concern and adoration she finds in the other girl’s soft brown eyes.

“Well that’s easy...the last thing I wanna see is you hurt...so I made sure it didn’t happen.” As the words come out of Nicole’s mouth, Waverly is pretty sure her heart is gonna burst. _I have never had someone care that much and she’s practically a complete stranger nonetheless?!_ Tears are starting to form in the corner of her eyes and if the look Nicole is giving her at the moment gets any softer, she is pretty sure the football player is going to melt right in front of her eyes.

After what seems like a lifetime, but is really only a couple moments since Nicole was hit by Champ’s throw, Mr. Crofte and a few others gather around to make sure Nicole is alright and interrupts the moment the two girls were sharing. When everyone is assured that the redhead is okay, the crowd disperses and the court starts to get set up for the next game.

Champ is standing on the other side of the gym with a smug look on his face and so Waverly pulls Nicole aside. “Ok look, as much as I appreciate you saving me, I really wanna wipe that look off of Champ’s face. What do you say we do our damnedest to make sure we win these next two games?”

Seeing Waverly’s intense determination on her face, Nicole smiles with full dimples on display. “I would love to knock Champ down a couple pegs. Count me in.”

The whistle sounds for the start of the second game and unfortunately for the two girls, the second game is starting out much like the first one did. After a few short minutes, Nicole and Waverly are the last two standing on their team but Nicole does manage to bring Champ’s team down to just Pete and him after a few precise throws. The two guys get together on the other side of the court to formulate a plan and Nicole doesn’t like where this is going. 

When they break apart, she knows in her gut that they are going to target Waverly. It was an easy way to target both girls at the same time, especially since Nicole showed her hand in the first game. Nicole starts to slowly inch closer to the brunette as the guys get ready to throw the balls at Waverly. Pete releases his throw a little before Champ and Nicole springs into action by throwing the one ball she had in her hands at that one to send it on another course. 

Waverly figures out what is happening and as Champ releases his throw at her, the only thing she can do is try and duck down and have it miss her because she has no ball to protect herself. Because Waverly goes lower than he expected, Champ’s throw ends up being higher than he planned and a perfect level for Nicole to snatch it out of the air.

Nicole plucks the ball out of the air effortlessly, being a wide receiver and all, and in the same motion spins around and line drives the ball at Pete, effectively eliminating both guys in the span of five seconds. Nicole smirks as she sees the looks on the boys’ faces as they realize they just got beat by a girl. She turns to look at Waverly and is confused at seeing a displeased look in her direction instead of an elated one.

“We just won that game Waverly!” Nicole pauses for a few moments, “Why aren’t you more happy about this?!”

“I thought I said no more heroics Nicole,” Waverly retorts as she helps put a couple of the dodgeballs on the centerline. “I told you I am capable of taking care of myself.”

Waverly walks away from the taller girl but Nicole is not going to take that as an acceptable answer and chases after her. Nicole gets in front of her, turns around, and stops so Waverly has to stop as well. “I don’t believe that’s the only reason you are upset right now so what’s going on?”

Waverly is slightly panicking because it seems like no matter how hard she tries, she can’t seem to get anything past the redhead. _I can’t just blurt out that a small part of it is that I can take care of myself. That a little bigger part of it is that I kinda want this girl to defend my honor. That another small part of it is I am confused on why I want this girl to defend me. That a huge part of it is that I am scared at how quickly this girl has become someone I want to be around. And the most enormous part of it is that I am scared about what that might mean._

So instead of bombarding Nicole with all that, Waverly goes with a halfway truthful answer she believes will satisfy the girl in front of her. “I just don’t want to be the reason you get hurt.” What Waverly fails to mention is she doesn’t just mean physically but also emotionally. _Nicole deserves better than that._

Waverly side steps the girl and heads to the line to await the start of the game. Nicole stands there with a puzzled look on her face and before she can respond the whistle sounds for the start of the last game. Unsurprisingly, this game is basically a carbon copy of the last two and before the freshmen know it, the only people left still in the game are Champ and Pete for the guys and Nicole and Waverly for the girls.

Nicole knows after the athleticism she showed at the end of the last game, the two guys are going to team up and go after her. She thinks back to the conversation she had with Waverly and a plan hatches in her mind. _Both of the guys ganging up on me is exactly what I want them to do._

With both Champ and Pete armed with a dodgeball and heading in her direction, Nicole just smiles and waits. Pete was never good with following instructions and instead of throwing the ball at the same time as Champ, he throws first at Nicole. The football player easily catches his throw but instead of hanging onto the ball for protection, she sets the ball down on the ground and waits to catch the ball thrown by Champ.

This whole time Waverly has not taken her eyes off of the events happening with the two guys and Nicole. After Pete gets eliminated, Waverly knows the game will be over soon because of Nicole‘s catching abilities. So no one is shocked more than her when Champ throws the ball at Nicole and she drops it.

Nicole has to walk past Waverly to get off the court after being eliminated and she is smiling as she walks by. She gets close enough to the cheerleader to whisper something to her before leaving the game. “I know you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. Now go wipe that arrogant look off of Champ’s face.”

Champ is standing on his side of the court with a big smile on his face, waiting for the brunette to make a move. Waverly knows she is not going to be able to beat Champ with her arm so she’s going to have to use the one thing she has that he does not: a brain.

Waverly has most of the dodgeballs on her side of the court, so she starts to roll them over to Champ so he has some to throw at her. She gives them all to him except for two. He throws a couple at her that she manages to dodge and then she decides it’s time to put her plan in action.

She gets herself into the right mindset and then speaks to Champ, “Champ, I know I’m not going to win because you are just so strong. I don’t want to get hurt so can I just throw you a ball, you catch it, and then this game can be over with?”

Nicole hears the words that come out of Waverly’s mouth and gets a disappointed look on her face. Champ gets an even bigger smile on his while he considers Waverly’s proposition.

“Since I’m such a nice guy, I would be happy to do that for you Waverly,” he says as he sets the ball he had in his hands on the ground.

“Thank you so much Champ! I mean this is not a game a small girl like me should be playing anyway right?” Waverly lays it on extra thick while she reaches down to grab one of the two dodgeballs next to her.

“You are so right! I’m ready whenever you are Waverly.” Champ motions for Waverly to go ahead and throw him the ball. Waverly tosses the ball in her hands with as much arc as she can possibly get with it still seeming like an easy throw and catch situation. While Champ’s attention is looking up to catch the ball, Waverly quickly reaches down and grabs the last ball she kept right beside her feet and launches it as hard as she can towards Champ hitting him square in the gut and winning the game for her team.

As the rest of her team celebrates the win, Waverly walks over to where Champ is standing with a bewildered look on his face. “Looks like you and your balls came up a little short this time Champ.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Waverly sees Nicole starting to walk in their direction, so she quickly threatens Champ while she has the chance. “And I don’t know what you said to Nicole earlier tonight but if you pull something like that again, don’t think I won’t take care of it like I took care of you just now.”

Before Nicole can get any closer, Waverly turns away from Champ and intercepts her so the situation can’t escalate any further between the two athletes. They get far enough away from everyone else and Nicole looks like she is at a loss for words until her brain catches up to the trickery Waverly just pulled on Champ.

“Waves, that was such a genius plan! You definitely had me going there for a sec...”

The shorter girl doesn’t let her say any more and all of a sudden she smacks her in the arm and looks up towards the redhead. “I know you threw that last game! There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have caught Champ’s throw! You are a wide receiver on the football team for crying out loud!”

Nicole looks down at the ground sheepishly, as she gets caught by the always observant brunette. “I just wanted to let you prove yourself! I knew you could do it...I believed in you!”

For some reason, those words trigger something in Waverly’s head and she decides to give Nicole a piece of her mind. “Well I don’t know which one is worse, the fact that you felt like I needed to prove myself or the fact that you left me all alone out there.”

Waverly walks away leaving Nicole speechless as the announcement is made for them to move onto their next and final activity. Nicole stands there processing what the heck just happened and then hurries off to the study hall room after Waverly.

When they reach the study hall room, everything is set up like a video gamer’s paradise. In two of the corners, there’s Mario Kart 8 and Just Dance 2018 on the Nintendo Wii U. The third corner of the room has Guitar Hero Live for the PlayStation 4 and the last corner has a lounge area for the kids to sit around, take a break, and watch their peers play some games.

Waverly goes to sit down in the lounge area, still upset from the dodgeball game. Nicole walks over to the game she knows is going to make her feel better and hopefully get her in better graces with Waverly after their altercation. Guitar Hero has always been one of her favorite games to play and in owning the game herself, she knows exactly which song she is going to play for the cheerleader.

The redhead adjusts the guitar strap and throws it over her head and onto her shoulder. While she is waiting for the game to load, she makes her way over to where Waverly is sitting all alone. “Look, I’m sorry for what I did during the dodgeball game. I was just trying to help and I don’t think you are incapable at all.” 

When Waverly doesn’t look up at her or answer, Nicole continues, “I would never want to make you feel like you are all alone. I hope this song will show you what I mean.”

Nicole turns and walks away to make her song selection: Somebody to You by The Vamps featuring Demi Lovato. Once the song has fully loaded and Nicole starts playing the opening chords, Waverly picks her head up and looks in the football player’s direction.

 _I used to wanna be_  
_Living like there's only me_  
_And now I spend my time_  
_Thinking 'bout a way to get you off my mind (yeah you!)_  
_I used to be so tough_  
_Never really gave enough_  
_And then you caught my eye_  
_Giving me the feeling of a lightning strike (Yeah you!)_

 _Look at me now, I'm falling_  
_I can't even talk, still stuttering_  
_This ground of mine keeps shaking_  
_Oh oh oh, now!_

The brunette is watching Nicole play and it’s probably one the the most adorable things Waverly has ever seen. The look of pure concentration Nicole is displaying, along with the way she is mouthing along to the words, makes a smile break across the freshman’s face. Waverly hasn’t even been really paying attention to the song or the lyrics until Nicole looks up and meets Waverly’s eyes right before the chorus starts.

 _All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah_  
_Is somebody to you_  
_All I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah_  
_Is somebody to you_

 _Everybody's trying to be a billionaire_  
_But every time I look at you I just don't care_  
_'Cause all I wanna be, yeah all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah_  
_Is somebody to you (yeah you!)_

The eye contact between the girls is brief as Nicole continues to play the game, but it is enough for that feeling to resurface in the pit of Waverly’s stomach. _The feeling where this girl can infuriate me one minute and then turn around and do something that makes me smile more than I ever have before. The feeling where I haven’t known this girl for very long but now I can’t imagine what my life would look like without her._ As Waverly’s thoughts swirl around in her head, the music continues.

 _I used to ride around_  
_I didn't wanna settle down_  
_But now I wake each day_  
_Looking for a way that I can see your face (Yeah you!)_

_I've got your photograph_  
_But baby I need more than that_  
_I need to know your lips_  
_Nothing ever mattered to me more than this (Yeah you!)_

The last set of lyrics is like a sucker punch to the gut for Waverly. She starts imagining what it would be like to kiss Nicole. _Maybe all of these things that keep happening and the feelings I am experiencing means we are supposed to be more than just friends._

Waverly makes the mistake of looking up at Nicole while these thoughts are going through her head and watches the redhead as she is finishing out the last half of the song. Waverly is enraptured by the way Nicole slightly sways to the rhythm of the song. The way her fingers move so gracefully across the guitar. The way her lips look while she is mouthing the words. She wonders what it would be like to have Nicole touch her instead of the guitar.

Just as that thought pops into her head, Nicole looks over at Waverly and makes eye contact once again. Embarrassed by her thoughts, Waverly makes a quick exit out to the hallway to compose herself before going back inside. 

The cheerleader leans with her back against the wall and slowly slides down it. She brings her knees to her chest and tries to regulate her breathing. After taking a few moments to regain her composure, Waverly starts to stand up and walk towards the door to the study hall room.

Just as she reaches for the door handle, the door swings open and she is standing face to face with Nicole. If Waverly didn’t know any better, she would swear they must both have magnets that draw them towards each other when they are no longer near. Even if that’s not true physically, she wonders if metaphorically they are always destined to come back to one another.

“Hey Waves, everything ok?”

“Me? Yeah, everything’s fine. Just been kind of a long night.”

“You sure it’s not anything else? That song wasn’t too much was it?” Nicole asks as she fidgets with her hands and avoids any eye contact with the shorter girl.

“No not at all! Umm...you are really good at the game. Definitely better than I could ever do.”

When Waverly pays her the compliment, Nicole gets some of her confidence back. “I mean I have always been pretty good with my hands and I like doing things that can keep them ready for anything.” Nicole smirks and winks at the brunette.

With that comment, Waverly can feel her face getting warm and decides that she is going to get Nicole back for saying that. “I understand. I can definitely relate.” Waverly walks past Nicole and back into the study hall room. “Wanna see how I keep my body ready?”

Nicole raises her eyebrow as she watches Waverly walk past her and over to the gaming area. Fully expecting Waverly to pick up the guitar and play, Nicole starts to head that direction but when Waverly takes a turn towards Just Dance, she knows she is a goner.

Waverly picks up the Wii controller and starts scrolling through the song options until she finds the perfect one to complete her revenge on Nicole. As Nicole walks around in front of her to watch the girl play the game, Waverly chooses the song Naughty Girl by Beyonce. The cheerleader takes a deep breath and as the music begins, she looks up at Nicole and gives her a quick grin before putting her full concentration towards the game.

 _I love to love you baby_  
_I love to love you baby_

 _I'm feelin' sexy_  
_I wanna hear you say my name boy_  
_If you can reach me_  
_You can feel my burning flame_

 _I'm feelin' kind of n-a-s-t-y I just might take you home with me_  
_Baby the minute I feel your energy_  
_Your vibe's just taken over me_  
_Start feelin' so crazy babe_  
_Lately, I feel the funk coming over me_  
_I don't know what's gotten into me_  
_The rhythm's got me feelin' so crazy babe_

Only a minute into the song and Nicole feels like she has completely died. It has basically taken all of her willpower to keep her jaw from hitting the floor as soon as Waverly started moving. If it was Waverly’s plan to get back at Nicole for all the flirting she did before, then she was definitely succeeding. Waverly looks directly at the football player and improvises by pointing her finger at Nicole as the song continues.

 _Tonight I'll be your naughty girl_  
_I'm callin' all my girls_  
_We're gonna turn this party out_  
_I know you want my body_  
_Tonight I'll be your naughty girl I'm_  
_Callin' all my girls_  
_I see you look me up and down_  
_And I came to party_

 _You're so sexy_  
_Tonight I am all yours boy_  
_The way your body_  
_Moves across the floor_  
_You got me feelin’ n-a-s-t-y, I just might take you home with me_

 _Baby the minute I feel your energy_  
_The vibe's just taken over me_  
_Start feelin' so crazy babe_  
_Lately, I feel the funk coming over me_  
_I don't know what's gotten into me_  
_The rhythm's got me feelin' so crazy babe_

At this point, Nicole is pretty sure she hasn’t blinked since Waverly started dancing. The cheerleader can definitely dance and Nicole can’t take her eyes off of her. Each movement the girl makes is so precise and deliberate and has the redhead irrevocably enthralled. Nicole knows she needs to stop staring at Waverly, not only because she is being completely transparent, but because her performance is definitely having an effect on Nicole.

The song comes to a close and the two girls had been so focused on each other that they did not notice the crowd that had formed to all watch Waverly. Their classmates’ applause and hollering break the trance the girls were under with one another and Nicole quickly makes an awkward exit from the study hall room.

After Waverly acknowledges a few of her classmates’ compliments, she realizes Nicole is no longer in the room and excuses herself. When she walks through the door, she scans the hallway looking for the football player, and spots her down the hall. As the brunette moves closer, she can see Nicole leaning on the window sill and staring outside at the darkness.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Waverly comes up and places her hands on the window sill right next to Nicole’s and joins her in looking out the window.

“Have you ever met someone and instantly known in your heart that they meant something to you?” Nicole turns to look at Waverly and inadvertently brings their faces inches apart.

“I might kinda get that, yeah...” Hazel eyes are now looking into brown and the seemingly perpetual pull of their “magnets” brings Waverly’s hand to rest on Nicole’s.

Both girls look down at their hands and the electric feeling transpiring from their connection. They are standing so close to one another that Nicole can hear Waverly’s breath hitch as they touch and she is starting to tremble. 

Nicole looks back at Waverly again, waiting for eye contact that never comes. The redhead watches as an array of emotions cross over Waverly’s face and unfortunately for Nicole, fear seems to have won the battle in the cheerleader’s mind.

“I’m sorry. I have to go.” Waverly takes her hand off of Nicole’s and turns to leave without another glance in her direction.

“Wait! Waverly!” Nicole begs as the girl continues to walk away. “Please come back!”

Waverly stops for a moment upon hearing Nicole’s last plea, wanting so badly to turn around and go back to the girl that could make it all better, but also worse, with just one touch. Instead, the brunette starts to move again, but this time with tears in her eyes, leaving a dejected Nicole standing alone in the hallway, watching as she walks away.

As Waverly is walking, she hears the announcement for the end of the activities and for everyone to meet back in the cafeteria again for their ice cream break. _Great, now I need to hurry up and get my shit together._

She ducks into the nearest restroom and sits down in a stall to collect her thoughts on everything that has happened in the past couple of hours. _Thank goodness no one else is in here right now so I can have two seconds to think._ Her solitude is unfortunately short lived as she hears Stephanie Jones and Beth Gardner walk in.

“Can you believe that just happened? I mean, can you say attention whore much?” Stephanie scoffs as the two girls go to freshen up in the mirror.

“I really don’t think that’s the reason she did it Steph.”

“How could it not be? You know who her sister is...that family is nothing but bad news!” Waverly leans closer to the side of the stall so she can hear while remaining as quiet as possible.

Beth rolls her eyes, “And am I anything like Mercedes? You can be related but still be nothing alike...trust me.”

“Ok fair point...at least when Wynonna does what she does, it doesn’t make me wanna throw up.” At the sound of her sister’s name, Waverly’s stomach drops as she realizes who exactly they are talking about.

“I’m confused...why are we getting sick because of this?”

Stephanie finishes reapplying her lip gloss and turns to Beth. “Because Waverly was clearly only trying to get the attention of one person with her little dance.” 

She waits for a response but Beth shakes her head with a confused look on her face, clearly not on the same page as her friend. “She was trying to get Nicole’s attention. They have basically been eye fucking the whole night. It’s disgusting.”

“Wow Steph, I didn’t realize you were a homophobe...”

“Oh I’m not! I don’t care I just don’t wanna see it, you know?”

Waverly feels the tears forming in her eyes again and hopes this conversation is nearing the end of its duration otherwise she is going to get caught eavesdropping.

Beth lets out a disapproving sigh, “That’s like the exact thing a homophobe would say...”

“Whatever. I just knew as soon as that girl showed up in Purgatory she would end up corrupting some poor innocent girl. I’m just surprised and sorry it was Waverly. I mean she’s way too pretty to be gay!”

“Ok I cannot handle you anymore. Let’s get out of here and go get our ice cream before you say something else bigoted.” Beth grabs Stephanie by the arm and leads her out of the restroom.

As soon as Waverly hears the restroom door close, a strangled sob leaves her lips. She tries her best to be as quiet as possible as the tears stream down her face. The brunette thinks about everything that has taken place tonight and her mind is running a mile a minute. 

_Nicole is a good person. She’s sweet, kind, infuriating at times definitely, but she cares. So why am I so confused about what’s going on here? She’s done more for me this past month than most people have my entire life. So why does that scare me so much? She doesn’t have any idea what she is getting into with me. It’s not fair to drag her into all this when I don’t know how I feel or know what’s going on with me. And what would everyone say? I guess I already have a pretty good idea..._

Waverly decides then and there that she cannot let Nicole get hurt even more than she already is going to be. She is not going to be the reason a good person gets ruined. Waverly walks out of the bathroom stall and looks in the mirror to compose herself before walking out. She knows she needs to hurry though because Chrissy is going to be wondering where she’s at but she also has to look presentable or her best friend is going to ask questions.

Feeling satisfied, Waverly walks out of the restroom towards the cafeteria and gets in line to grab her ice cream while seeing if she can spot Chrissy. After surveying the room, she sees her best friend standing near a table talking to someone and the cheerleader is not surprised as she sees the mystery person have red hair when Chrissy goes to sit down.

Nicole has been scanning the cafeteria since she sat down and is relieved to finally see Waverly standing in line. After the way the two girls left things, she was nervous that Waverly wasn’t going to come back. Nicole thought they were on the same page but if the way she left her standing in the hallway all alone is any indication, Nicole is not so sure anymore and that scares her. _It scares me because I don’t know what Waverly is thinking. It scares me because I am already so far gone for this girl that I don’t know what to do with myself. And most of all, it scares me because what if this girl is it for me, but she doesn’t feel the same way?_

Nicole is brought out of her thoughts as Chrissy practically yells when Waverly walks up to their table and sits down. “Thank god you are here! I was worried that you may have died or something!”

Waverly gives her friend a look, “Nope definitely not dead...just had to use the restroom quick before coming down here.”

Nicole looks up at the brunette as those words leave her lips and that’s when she can tell Waverly doesn’t look like her normal self. Her eyes don’t have their usual sparkle and if Nicole didn’t know any better, she would say that Waverly had been crying. This realization leaves the football player unsettled as an awkward silence falls upon their table.

Chrissy realizes the tension between the two girls and decides to try and get to the bottom of it. “Alright Waverly, I have been away from you guys for three hours now so I need filled in! Let’s start with your favorite activity,” Chrissy smirks and continues, “how was dodgeball?”

“Funny...dodgeball actually wasn’t too bad though. We got off to a rough start with Nicole getting into a fight with Champ and then in the first game there was some ill advised heroics by a certain someone...” Waverly looks over at Nicole as the redhead looks down to avoid her gaze. “But then we won the last two games thanks to both of us so it ended pretty well.”

“I’m sorry but did you just say that Miss Too Haught To Handle over here got into a fight with boy-man Champ Hardy and I missed it?! God damn it!” Chrissy leans back in her chair, crosses her arms, and pouts.

Nicole has been suspiciously quiet regarding the fight with Champ and Waverly realizes that she doesn’t really know what happened between the two athletes. “What did he say to you anyway Nicole?”

Upon hearing her name, Nicole looks up at Waverly and she notices the haunted look is back in those soft, brown eyes. “It was really nothing worth repeating. I shouldn’t have let it bother me but I did. It’s over now though and I would prefer to just leave it in the past if that’s ok?”

The two girls stare at each other, willing the other one to break and give in, but neither do. Sensing this conversation is going nowhere as both girls are super stubborn, Chrissy jumps back in. “So how did art and video games go?”

“The art thing was a lot of fun actually and Nicole and I both ended up drawing nature things for our favorite place to be.”

“And let’s just say the video games were interesting. I thought I was good at playing the guitar but then Waverly comes in with the dancing and it was game over at that point.”

Hearing the compliment from Nicole and remembering back to the dance, Waverly’s cheeks start to turn red and she slightly turns away from the other two girls. Nicole sees this and saves her, “But enough about our activities, how did yours go Chrissy?”

“Well my night definitely was not as exciting as your guys’! Dodgeball was over quick for my team so nothing eventful to report there. Waverly knows how excited I get about video games, which is...I don’t...so I mostly just watched. The art thing was enjoyable though! Oh my God Waverly, you will never guess what I painted.”

“Oh Jesus, I can only imagine what you painted as your favorite place to be Chrissy.” Waverly looks over at Chrissy and Nicole cautiously, not knowing what is about to come out of her best friend’s mouth.

“Don’t worry, I kept it PG...but just this one time.” Chrissy looks over at Nicole and winks, causing Nicole to look away embarrassed and awakening a little green-eyed monster in Waverly.

“You painted your bed didn’t you?” Waverly rolls her eyes at Chrissy as she puts the puzzle pieces together.

Chrissy puts her finger on the tip of her nose, “What can I say? I only love my bed and my momma, I’m sorry.”

“You are just too much sometimes...” Waverly shakes her head at her best friend’s antics and smiles looking over at Nicole. Nicole responds with a small smile back that is erased as soon as she looks over Waverly’s shoulder.

“Ugh...speaking of too much…guess who seems to be walking towards us right now?” Chrissy says disgustedly as she watches the greased up tool that is Champ Hardy come waltzing over to their table.

“So ladies! How’s it going?” The dark-haired boy comes up right next to Waverly and leans his arms on top of the table.

Chrissy’s disgust for the boy only grows as he continues to invade Waverly’s personal space. “Well we were doing pretty good right up until about ten seconds ago. What do you want Champ? Besides making us all uncomfortable?”

“Whoa, simmer down there Nedley! I just came over to say I’m sorry...” He looks over at Waverly and flashes her the biggest smile in a clear attempt to flirt. Nicole’s entire body tenses up as she tries to keep her thoughts in her head and not start another fight with this heathen.

Thankfully Chrissy is not about let Champ get away with any of his bullshit and she snaps her fingers multiple times in front of his face. “Pretty sure the person you need to say that to is over here bud.”

“Ok look, I came over here to invite you to hang out with a few of us for the free hour as an apology for earlier. We are gonna play some games in the library. You guys in?”

Waverly is about to answer him when Chrissy interrupts, “I’m sorry but was that your half assed attempt at an apology?! You didn’t even actually apologize!”

“Yeah...yeah...fine.” Champ looks over at Nicole who has been stiff as a board the entire time, trying to keep all her emotions in check. “Nicole, I’m sorry. Now will you guys hang out?”

Chrissy rolls her eyes but quickly responds so the situation does not escalate further as she can feel the tension radiating off of the redhead next to her. “Do we have a choice?”

“That’s the spirit!” Champ slams his hands down on the table in excitement and looks at Waverly again with that sickening smile. “We will see you guys in like five minutes!”

Champ turns and walks away, leaving Chrissy to call out after him, “Are you sure you can last five minutes?!” Then she mumbles under her breath as she shoves Nicole in the arm to get her to cheer up, “It’s probably more like eight seconds...”

This elicits a smile to break out across Nicole’s face causing that jealousy to come crawling back to Waverly as she watches her best friend and her...Nicole...interact.

“Thanks Chrissy. I’m going to throw all our trash away quick and then I guess we better get heading to the library.” Nicole gathers up the trio’s wrappers and walks off towards the trash cans without another look in Waverly’s direction.

“What the hell was that?!” Waverly whispers as she throws her hands up in exasperation.

Seeing the effect the interaction with Nicole had on the brunette, a light bulb goes off in Chrissy’s head, “I have no idea what you are referring to Waves.”

Waverly’s eyes grow big upon hearing the nickname uttered from Chrissy’s lips, “Did you just call me Waves?! You know how I feel about people other than my sister calling me Waves.”

“Hmm...that’s funny because I clearly remember a certain redhead calling you that multiple times now and it never bothered you then...”

“That’s completely different! She doesn’t know the entire story regarding my nickname...”

“Is it different though?” Chrissy’s voice gets a little louder, “No one knows the story and I’m supposed to be your best friend and I can’t even call you Waves.”

Waverly is rendered speechless by the slight outburst from her friend but then speaks up, “Are you jealous of Nicole?!”

“A minute ago were YOU just jealous of me and Nicole?” Chrissy raises her eyebrow as Waverly’s eyes widen again.

“I have no idea what you are talking about!”

Chrissy gives the brunette her best ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me look’, “I have eyes Waverly...”

Before Waverly can respond, Nicole is cautiously walking back up to their table, “I’m not interrupting something am I?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Both girls answer at the same time and Chrissy can see that Waverly is about to open her mouth again so before she can do so, Chrissy jumps up from the table and grabs Nicole’s hand to drag her along to the library. “Promise it’s all good...now we have somewhere to be ladies!”

Waverly gets up from the table and as she watches the two girls walking away, that feeling rears its ugly head in her stomach again. The cheerleader looks down and points at her stomach, whispering under her breath, “I am not jealous! So knock it off with those feelings!”

Down the hall, the duo notices Waverly has not started to follow them and they both stop and turn around. When Chrissy sees Waverly talking to herself, she knows her plan to make her jealous totally worked and she can count phase two of her plan as a success.

“Waves! You coming?” Nicole shouts back in the cheerleader’s direction. Waverly snaps out of her trance and starts walking towards the girls. When she gets caught up, Chrissy has a big shit-eating grin on her face because once again, nothing was said about the use of the nickname. 

Waverly comes up beside Chrissy and shoves her, causing Chrissy to burst out laughing as Nicole looks on confused and the three girls walk to their destination.

After walking into the library and scanning the room to see who is all there, Waverly can’t help but think this was a terrible idea. The trio walks in to see Champ, Pete, Stephanie, Beth, and Jeremy all sitting in a circle waiting for the girls to join.

“About time you guys show up! Now hurry up and get over here!” Champ yells at the girls as soon as they walk in the room.

Chrissy looks over at Nicole and smirks, “See, I told you he couldn’t last that long.”

Nicole can’t help the laugh that escapes her mouth and so Champ pipes up again as the girls sit down in the circle, “Something funny Red?”

“You mean besides the way your face looks? Then no...” Chrissy jumps in, “Mind telling us what we are all doing here?”

“Well I thought it would be fun to play a friendly game of truth or dare. It is, after all, a classic sleepover game right girls?” Champ deliberately looks at Waverly when he talks, making both Chrissy and Nicole tense up at the unpleasant situation that is having to be in the same room as Champ Hardy.

“Can we get this show on the road? We already waited so long for these three to show up that we aren’t gonna have much time to play.” Stephanie whines as Champ grabs the two hats with everyone’s names in them.

“Alright quick rules...the first name drawn out of the hat is the person giving the truth or dare and the second name is the person answering the truth or doing the dare.” Champ turns to Nicole and holds the hats out in front of her. “Since this is my apology to you, why don’t you start by drawing the names?”

Nicole rolls her eyes slightly but draws Waverly’s name first and Beth’s name second. Beth chooses to answer a truth.

Waverly tries to think of something good that would get back at the girls for the conversation they had in the restroom earlier, “Have you ever lied to your best friend? If so, what about?”

Beth looks over nervously at Stephanie, “Now don’t get mad...but I have lied to you before.”

“About what?!” Stephanie exclaims as Champ and Pete start laughing.

“I might have said something looked bad on you so you wouldn’t buy it and then the next day I went back and bought it for me instead...”

“Ugh, you bitch!” Stephanie screams which makes the two guys laugh even harder.

“Good one Waverly,” Champ remarks after he has finished laughing. “Alright Beth, your turn to draw.”

Beth reaches in and draws Jeremy’s name first and Champ’s name second. Champ naturally chooses to do a dare.

“Champ, I dare you to have makeup put on and for you to wear it the rest of the game.”

“Umm...no way! I’m a dude. Dudes don’t wear makeup.”

“Is the great Champ Hardy going to be the first person to lose truth or dare over a little makeup?” Chrissy teases as Stephanie starts pulling stuff out of her purse.

“Fine, hurry up and get it over with! Champ doesn’t lose at truth or dare ever,” Champ looks over at Jeremy and points his finger at him. “You are gonna regret this.”

Jeremy gulps audibly as Stephanie starts to put the makeup on Champ and as she is finishing up, Chrissy pulls out her phone and takes a picture.

“I didn’t think it was possible for you to look prettier than you already are Champ but I was wrong. So very wrong.” She shows the phone to both Waverly and Nicole and the three girls start laughing hysterically.

“Hey!!! No one said it was ok to take pictures!”

“Too late! At least it is your turn to draw the names!” Chrissy holds out the hats for Champ. Champ chooses Beth’s name first and Stephanie’s name second. Stephanie chooses to answer a truth.

Angry still from Stephanie’s reaction to her truth earlier, Beth tries to embarrass Stephanie and asks her if she has a crush on anyone here and if so, who is it?

“I mean the answer is obviously yes and it is Champ. Who hasn’t had a crush on Champ?” Nicole gags as Steph continues, “For sure before the makeup but now even more so with the makeup.”

Everyone bursts out laughing again as Champ’s face starts to get red. “So NOT funny guys...I don’t think I like this game anymore.”

“Just remember this was all your idea Champ!” Waverly pokes as she hangs onto the hats for Stephanie to draw out of. Steph chooses Pete’s name first and Chrissy’s name second. Wanting to show Champ up, Chrissy decides to do a dare.

Pete thinks a little bit before he comes up with the perfect dare, “Chrissy, I dare you to prank call your dad and tell him there is alcohol here...your best friend Waverly has drank too much and is passed out and you don’t know if she is breathing. You have to sell it and you can only break at the end if he is gonna come here or something.”

“You know with him being the principal and all he is gonna totally freak out...but I’m not about to back out of this dare and I know I can sell it so here goes nothing.”

Chrissy dials her dad’s number and waits until he picks up to put the call on speakerphone.

“Everything ok sweetie? Why are you calling so late?”

“Umm...I don’t know for sure Dad...ok don’t freak out...”

“I’m gonna freak out if you don’t start telling me what’s going on Chrissy!”

Chrissy proceeds to go into this elaborate story about how they all got together and started drinking and that Waverly is laying on the floor passed out right now and she doesn’t know if she is breathing or not. As the conversation goes on and on, Chrissy gets more hysterical and Champ and Pete yell a few things in the background to really sell it. Naturally, Mr. Nedley freaks out and is about to come over before Chrissy finally explains to him that it was all a joke and everyone is fine. Waverly even gets on the phone with him to prove it before he decides to hang up.

“Man, he is so gonna kill me when I come home tomorrow! But a dare is a dare and I did it so you’re welcome Pete. Now hand over those hats so I can draw!” Chrissy fishes out her own name first and Waverly’s name second. After that entire ordeal, Waverly decides to forgo the dare and chooses to answer a truth.

Chrissy tries to come up with a question that won’t be embarrassing but will also further her little plan with Waverly and Nicole. “Alright Waverly, what is something you have never told anyone else before?”

Waverly lets out the breath she was holding in, grateful that her best friend wasn’t too crazy with the question she asked her. _I still have no idea what my answer is going to be but at least it wasn’t anyone else asking me because who knows what I would have had to do then._ After thinking for a moment, the only thing on her mind was something they were talking about earlier and so she just decides to go with it.

Waverly looks sheepishly at Nicole who is sitting next to her as she starts her answer, “Well everyone here basically knows I don’t let anyone call me by the nickname Waves besides my sister, but no one knows why I don’t.”

Nicole looks at her with a slightly panicked expression that softens into concern as Waverly’s gaze meets her own. The brunette takes a deep breath while seven pairs of eyes are all on her, waiting for her explanation. 

“When my parents and oldest sister passed away five years ago in a car accident, I didn’t take it very well. I mean I was only nine to be fair...but my mother always called me Waves and so every time I would hear it, it would remind me of her. So I forbid anyone to call me it because it hurt too much and now I only let people I lo--deeply care about, use it.”

Nicole looks at Waverly with tears in her eyes and a deeply regretful expression on her face. A solemn silence befalls the group momentarily before Champ rudely breaks it.

“Well that was kind of a downer Waverly...how about we move onto the next person and liven this party back up again!”

“God Champ you are such a dick!” Chrissy exclaims and while the rest of the group’s attention is all on yelling at Champ, Nicole uses it as an opportunity. She reaches over and touches Waverly’s leg while leaning over to whisper in her ear.

“I’m so sorry Waverly...I had no idea...you could have told me to stop calling you Waves.” Nicole pulls away and searches Waverly’s face for any indication of the emotions she was feeling after revealing that truth.

Waverly looks up at Nicole and it looks like someone just kicked her puppy. It was one of the sweetest but also most heartbreaking things the cheerleader has ever seen. The magnitude of just how much the redhead cared about her was almost more overwhelming than sharing her truth was. 

She reaches over to quickly squeeze her hand back, before whispering back in her ear, “If I wanted you to stop, I would have told you to stop.”

The two girls are now staring at each other, sharing a moment until Stephanie notices what is happening and clears her throat. “Are we gonna continue this game then or what?”

The girls break apart and Jeremy grabs the hats to put out in front of Waverly. As she reaches in, the first name she grabs is Champ’s and the second name is Pete’s. Against his better judgment, Pete chooses to take on a dare from Champ.

“Pete, I dare you to let us take a video to put on Snapchat of you dancing in your underwear to Single Ladies.”

Without hesitation, Pete starts stripping, to the dismay of most of the girls. “Jesus Pete! Why don’t you warn a girl first?! Ain’t nobody wanna see that!” Chrissy yells as she reaches out and jokingly covers Nicole’s eyes so she isn’t traumatized.

“Alright, we need music...Beth!” Champ points at Beth to pull up the music as he readies his phone to take the video.

The music begins and Pete starts doing the dance for the song and there is no one happier than Nicole when it is finally all over. “I am scarred for life...that is something I am never going to be able to unsee!”

Chrissy brings Nicole’s head down to her shoulder and pats it to console her, “There, there...everything is going to be ok.”

“Would you guys quit being overdramatic? I nailed that for sure! Now hand over those hats so I can pick next!”

Waverly reaches out the hats to Pete and he grabs out Nicole’s name first and and Jeremy’s name second. Jeremy decides to try his luck with a truth.

“Ok Jeremy, what was your first kiss like?” Nicole decides to take it as easy on Jeremy as she possibly can because she thinks Champ probably only invited him here to embarrass him and Jeremy seems like a really nice kid.

Jeremy’s cheeks turn a little pink, “I guess I will let you know when it happens?”

Nicole nods her head and shrugs her shoulders, “Fair enough!”

“Are you kidding me?! That’s totally not fair!” Champ crosses his arms to pout in his chair, “I had to put on makeup for you!”

“Pouting is really not a good look for you Champ...a question is a question so I guess we are moving on to the final people?!” Chrissy rubs her hands together while Jeremy pulls out the two names they know are left over. The first name pulled out is Stephanie’s and the final name to be pulled out of the hat is Nicole’s. Nicole has been debating the entire game on whether to choose truth or dare and ultimately decides she is not going to be shown up by Champ so she picks dare.

Stephanie smirks as she pretends to think really hard about what she wants Nicole’s dare to be. Secretly though she has been praying she would be the one to give Nicole a dare tonight because she has the perfect one already decided. Waverly nervously watches Steph because she knows what kind of person Steph is and even though Nicole doesn’t look nervous at all, she should be. Also after what Stephanie and Beth discussed in the restroom earlier tonight, Waverly can only imagine what is about to come out of her mouth right now.

“Alright Nicole...now I know this shouldn’t be a problem for you at all so I dare you to kiss Waverly.”

As those final words leave Stephanie’s mouth, Nicole looks over at Waverly and notices a deer in the headlights look in her eyes even though she is doing a really good job of hiding it from everyone else. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Pete smack Champ in the chest excitedly as they are about to see two girls kiss. Jeremy and Beth look on as sympathetic bystanders while Chrissy stares at her two friends with an unreadable expression on her face, somewhere between flabbergasted and anxious. All the while, Steph just watches them with a smug look on her face.

Nicole has no idea what she is going to do and resorts to an internal monologue to figure it out. _So obviously this is something you have wanted to do since you met the girl. Your heart tells you this girl next to you deep down wants you to as well. But you also just caught that look in those hazel eyes. That look that says I’m not quite ready. Your gut is telling you this isn’t the way you should have your first kiss together anyway. It shouldn’t be something that is forced upon you two. But you know these guys are not gonna let you off easy. You are gonna have to do something...and you are gonna have to sell it._ That’s when the light bulb moment occurs to Nicole.

Nicole looks into Waverly’s eyes and mouths the words “Do you trust me?” She sees Waverly nod imperceptibly as Nicole brings her hands up to Waverly’s face. She slowly brings her face closer and closer to Waverly’s while not breaking eye contact for a single moment, making sure Waverly is still putting her trust in her. The rest of the people in the room are no longer even a blip on Nicole’s radar as she focuses on how close their faces are to one another. Nicole stops in front of Waverly’s face when their lips are about to touch and the energy in the room is palpable. They can feel the warmth of each other’s breath on their lips. Waverly closes her eyes, waiting for the sensation of Nicole’s lips that never comes. At the last possible moment, Nicole moves off to the side and kisses Waverly on the cheek.

“Are you kidding me?! That wasn’t the dare!” Champ starts to basically throw a mini temper tantrum at the dare not being completed.

Nicole looks over at Champ with daggers in her eyes and if looks could kill, Champ would definitely be in his grave by now. “I’m sorry, but I believe all Stephanie said was that I had to kiss Waverly. She did not specify how I had to kiss her therefore, the dare has been completed.”

“Champ’s right...that was not what I meant when I said that dare.” Stephanie crosses her arms and looks at Nicole expectantly. Meanwhile, Waverly hasn’t taken her eyes off of Nicole and is trying to recover from the kiss that never actually happened.

Nicole stands up from her chair suddenly and it goes sliding back behind her. “I’m sorry but did anyone get Waverly’s consent before this little dare happened?!” She clenches her fists to try and calm herself down. “What kind of game are you trying to play at Stephanie?!” Nicole starts moving closer to Steph and Waverly reaches out to grab Nicole’s arm to stop her from doing something she will regret.

Before the situation can escalate any further, the announcement comes over the speaker that the free hour is now up and everyone has to report to the gymnasium for lights out. Everyone gets up to leave and as Stephanie walks by Nicole she has some last parting words for her.

“You were saved by the bell this time Haught. Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

The other freshmen all disperse leaving Nicole, Waverly, and Chrissy in the library alone. None of the girls make an attempt to break up the silence until Chrissy speaks up.

“Well that past hour was a giant freaking roller coaster ride, amiright?”

Nicole pushes past the two girls as the air starts to feel heavier and heavier for her, making it hard to breathe. “I need to get out of this room.”

The football player exits the room and Waverly starts to go after her, “Nicole wait!” Then she feels a hand on her arm holding her back from following the other girl.

Chrissy looks her best friend in the eyes, “You gotta let her go and have a few minutes. That was kinda intense back there and I wasn’t even involved!”

“I just wanted to tell her thank you...she somehow saw I was conflicted and she didn’t push it. Not many people would have been respectful of me like that.” Waverly looks at her best friend with tears in her eyes.

“That’s where you’re wrong Waverly. NO ONE but her would have been respectful of you in that situation.” Chrissy pulls Waverly into a hug, “But that girl needs some space to process for a minute so that’s what you are gonna give her.”

The two friends wait a couple more minutes before heading to the gym to see where their sleeping assignments are. As they walk in, Waverly spots Nicole immediately already laying out her sleeping bag and after a little looking around, realizes she was assigned the spot next to Nicole with Chrissy being a few spots down.

After getting everything set up, the girls start to wriggle into their respective sleeping bags and that’s when Waverly breaks the silence between the two. “Hey, are you ok?”

Nicole looks over at Waverly and gives her a weak smile, “Yes I’m ok, I promise.”

“I just wanted to say thank you for before...”

“Thank you for what?”

“For a lot of things...but mostly for being respectful...and for just being...you.”

“Always.”

The girls are laying down in their sleeping bags facing one another when the lights in the gym finally go out for the night.

“Goodnight, Nicole.”

“Night, Waves.”

And with that final utterance into the dark, a smile comes to Waverly’s face. Hearing the nickname leave Nicole’s lips despite everything that happened tonight, is not only a relief but a light at the end of the tunnel. Waverly falls asleep with one color consuming every dream: Red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright...are we all still ok?! Did we make it off the roller coaster unscathed?!
> 
> I know that chapter was a lot...feel free to leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter @flugge34
> 
> Next chapter is a more emotional one...next week join me for some hardcore drooling from one of the members of WayHaught, a heart-to-heart between Nicole and her mom AND one between Waverly and Wynonna, some football/cheerleading, and an anonymous gift left in someone's locker...
> 
> Until next week! <3


	3. Freshman Year- Matters of the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prepare to get in touch with your emotions as this chapter covers the last couple months of the first semester of freshman year. This chapter we get flirtatious WayHaught (obviously), gay panic Waverly, some mother/daughter bonding, Nicole and Waverly backstories, supportive Earp sisters, some football/cheerleading, and the lead up to Christmas in Purgatory. Grab your tissues and strap in for another crazy ride!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's that time of the week again Earpers!!!
> 
> I am once again so excited to share the next chapter with you guys! It's my favorite part of the week and I can't believe we are already halfway through! This one was an attempt to hit you guys in the feels and also see how the characters got to the point they are now emotionally.
> 
> There are a couple links I will share with you guys if you wanna throwback to some 90s songs with me this chapter :)
> 
> -First part of Nicole/Mom car scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt6r-k9Bk6o  
> -End of Nicole/Mom car scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fndeDfaWCg
> 
> I will also have a couple of pictures at the end of the chapter to show you my vision of Waverly's jewelry that's mentioned.
> 
> Without further ado, here is Chapter Three! Much Love Earpers! <3

The school year showed no signs of slowing down and before Waverly knew it, it was the beginning of October. She didn’t really mind though since fall is her favorite season and she couldn’t wait to break out her oversized sweatshirts. _Now if only Purgatory would get on board and stop being so hot, that would be great._ The town was experiencing an unusual heat wave and if Waverly had to hear one more joke about them being in Hell, she was pretty sure her eyes were going to be permanently rolled to the back of her head.

The one positive thing to come out of the warm weather was that Waverly was going to be able to enjoy a weekend doing whatever she wanted since she finally had no plans or prior obligations. She had visited the library on Friday before school ended and was so excited to start reading one of the classics: _Anne of Green Gables_. She couldn’t think of a better activity this weekend than sitting in the hammock in the front yard, reading and enjoying the outdoors.

As the brunette wakes up late Saturday morning, she goes over to her dresser to change into some blue cheer shorts and a gray tank top. After pulling her hair back into a ponytail and grabbing her book, Waverly heads quietly down the stairs, careful to not wake Wynonna. She snags a poptart and water from the kitchen and then walks out the front door.

Although it feels like a sauna when Waverly first steps out the door, the birds are chirping and there is a slight breeze so she isn’t going to let a little heat keep her from her plan for the day. She gets situated in the hammock out front and dives right into the book, nibbling on her breakfast as she reads. To Waverly’s dismay, she only gets a few chapters in before her serenity is interrupted by a disturbance a couple doors down.

* * *

The faint sounds of an over enthused exercise instructor stir Nicole awake Saturday morning. As she rolls over and checks the time on her phone, she grumbles when she realizes she is already late for starting her day. Reluctantly getting out of bed, Nicole walks over to her dresser and grabs out some black basketball shorts and a Blue Devils cutoff t-shirt. Throwing her hair back into a ponytail, the redhead walks down the steps to find her mother awake and working out in the living room.

“Good morning sweetheart!” Katherine exclaims, nearly out of breath, as she spots her daughter walking down the stairs.

“Morning, Mom,” Nicole walks into the kitchen to get a piece of toast and water. “Someone’s feeling ambitious this morning?”

“Well I figured you couldn’t be the only one forced into physical activity this morning before our mother/daughter day today! You are still mowing the lawn this morning right?”

“Yes mother...heading out there right now actually!” Nicole yells from the kitchen as she shoves the last bit of toast in her mouth.

“Thanks sweetie! I love you and I can’t wait to spend the day with you!” Katherine calls out to her daughter as she refocuses her attention on the exercise video.

Nicole walks out the side door and opens up the garage to retrieve the lawn mower. After checking to make sure there is enough gas, she pushes the mower out to the backyard to start. Already sweating before she has even begun mowing, Nicole sighs as she pulls the starter cord a couple times before the engine comes to life.

* * *

The sound of a lawn mower startles Waverly from her concentration. She looks up from her book and realizes the sound is coming from the Haught house a couple doors down. _C’mon Ms. Haught...I just wanted one morning to read my book in peace._ Although slightly inconvenienced by the sound of the mower, Waverly has always been good at blocking things out and concentrates back on her reading.

About thirty minutes later, Nicole has finished with the backyard and shuts the mower off for the time being. Being uncomfortable and dripping with sweat, she decides to remove her shirt before continuing with the front yard. Pulling the wet fabric over her head, she lays the shirt down next to her water as she takes a drink before heading towards the front.

Waverly sighs audibly at the sound of the mower starting back up and is not prepared for what she sees when she looks up from the book towards the Haught residence. Turns out it was not Ms. Haught that was mowing the lawn at all, but Nicole, which changed things completely. The football player was mowing her lawn in just a sports bra and basketball shorts and Waverly was pretty sure she had just died.

What was meant to just be a glance in that direction has now turned into a full on staring session. _Ok, seriously...how does someone look THAT good while mowing the lawn?!_ Waverly’s eyes follow the sweat dripping from Nicole’s face, down her chest, to her stomach, her book long forgotten. _And how does someone our age have abs already? It’s not even fair!_ Waverly realizes she has been staring for an unhealthy amount of time but she cannot tear her eyes away from the stunning redhead.

Unbeknownst to Waverly, while she has been outside reading her book, Wynonna has woken up and gotten ready for the day. Noticing her sister being a total creeper, Wynonna quietly walks out onto the porch to see what could possibly have captured her attention away from reading. The older sister looks in the same direction as Waverly and sees Nicole mowing her lawn in very little clothing. A smirk comes across her face as she starts walking up quietly behind Waverly.

“Babygirl, whatcha doing?” Wynonna teases as she gets up right next to her younger sister without her noticing.

Waverly is so enraptured with Nicole that when she hears Wynonna come up next to her, she is startled and falls out of the hammock and onto the ground.

“Wynonna! What the hell?! Wear a bell or something!” Waverly angrily picks herself up off the ground and brushes the dirt off her clothes while giving her sister the death glare.

“Hold on...you got a little something right here...” Wynonna leans over and wipes her finger on the corner of Waverly’s mouth.

“What?” Waverly swats her sister’s hand away from her face. “I don’t have anything on my face!”

“Sorry...I was just making sure you didn’t have any more drool coming from your mouth!”

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” Waverly’s face heats up immediately as she realizes her sister totally caught her checking Nicole out.

“Oh, please! Did you just have your mouth open like that to catch some flies?”

“No! I was just concerned is all...it’s really hot out here today and I was watching to make sure she didn’t die!”

“Mhmm...sure...I mean you are like half right,” Wynonna’s grin gets a little bigger. “Nicole is definitely looking hot and I’m pretty sure you are the one who died but we can go with that.”

Waverly rolls her eyes at her sister, “Don’t you have somewhere else to be right now?”

“I get it...you wanna be alone to appreciate the view. I have a view of my own to go appreciate but don’t think this conversation is over!” Wynonna starts walking towards her car as Nicole shuts the mower off and looks in the Earp sisters’ direction.

“This conversation is for sure over! Tell Dolls I said hi!” Waverly yells after her older sister as she is pulling out of the driveway.

Much to Waverly’s chagrin, Wynonna slowly drives by Nicole as she is pushing the mower towards the garage and rolls down her window to wolf whistle at the redhead. Nicole looks up to see Wynonna cackling as she drives away and Waverly burying her head in her hands. She finishes putting the mower away, grabs her shirt and water, and heads across the street towards Waverly.

“Hey Waves! What was that all about?” Nicole points in the direction Wynonna drove away.

“Oh just Wynonna being Wynonna. Trust me, you really don’t wanna know.” Waverly replies, looking just about everywhere else but at Nicole.

“Alright that’s fair,” Nicole laughs as Waverly still won’t look at her while she’s talking. “Everything good with you?”

“Me?” Waverly looks at Nicole for a split second before darting her eyes away, “Everything’s great...swell...peachy...perfect even!”

At the sight of Waverly being flustered, Nicole smiles knowingly and starts to put her shirt back on. “So, what are you doing the rest of the day?”

Now that Nicole has her shirt back on, Waverly looks at the football player when she answers. “I actually really didn’t have much planned...reading this book mostly.” She gestures down at the book in her hands.

“Oh, what book?”

“ _Anne of Green Gables_. It is a classic and I haven’t had the chance to read it yet!” Waverly’s eyes light up as she talks about the book and Nicole thinks it is one of the most adorable things she has ever seen.

“Well it’s definitely a good choice! We can compare notes when you’ve finished!”

“You’ve read it?!” Waverly makes solid eye contact with Nicole for the first time during this conversation and they both can’t help but smile at each other.

“Hey now...don’t act so surprised!” Nicole feigns offense, “There’s more to this jock that you haven’t seen yet.”

With that last statement, all Waverly can think about is what she has seen of Nicole already and she can feel her cheeks heating up. Just as the cheerleader is about to answer, Katherine pokes her head out the front door of the Haught residence.

“Hey sweetie! Are you all finished with the lawn?”

Nicole turns to yell back to her mother, “Yes I’m all finished! Just talking to Waverly!”

“Well if you want to do everything you wanted to today, we probably need to get going soon!”

“Alright I will be over in a minute!” Nicole turns back to Waverly, “Sorry about that...we have a mother/daughter day planned and apparently someone is a little anxious about it.”

“Well you two enjoy the rest of your day and I will keep you updated on the progress of this book.”

“Sounds like a perfect plan to me,” Nicole starts to walk back across the street, “I will see ya around Waves!”

Waverly gives Nicole a small wave in response as she goes to sit back down in the hammock to read her book. She pulls out her phone to see she has a text message from Wynonna.

_Wynonna (11:46 am): Drink plenty of water today Waves! It’s really warm out and I could tell you were pretty thirsty earlier! Just looking out for ya babygirl! ;)_

Waverly rolls her eyes as she looks back over at Nicole walking up the stairs to her front door. She subconsciously grabs her water and takes a drink while watching Nicole disappear into her house. _I don’t know what she is talking about...thirsty...it’s just really hot outside...Haught outside._ Waverly giggles to herself as she opens her book back up to read and tries to forget about a certain redhead, only really succeeding with one of those tasks.

* * *

Once inside the house, both Haught women head towards their respective bathrooms to quickly shower and get ready for their planned day together. Nicole finishes up first, puts on her headphones and Hayley Kiyoko’s album _Expectations_ , and sits down on the front steps waiting for her mother to finish.

As she is mindlessly scrolling through her Tumblr, the redhead looks down toward the Earp household and is pleasantly surprised to still see Waverly hanging out in the hammock reading her book. Watching the brunette be adorably engrossed in her reading becomes far more interesting than her Tumblr feed and she sets the phone down beside her.

Katherine finishes up getting ready and searches for her daughter throughout the house. When she calls out to her a few times with no response, she looks out the window of the front door to see Nicole sitting on the front steps, elbow resting on her knee, head sitting on her hand, completely captivated with something (or someone) down the street.

Nicole’s mom slowly opens up the front door, steps out onto the small porch area, leans down and touches her daughter on the shoulder. “Honey, you ready to go?”

Upon being touched, Nicole jumps about ten feet in the air and turns to see her mother standing there with an impish smile on her face. She pulls off her headphones and tries to get her heartbeat back to a normal rate. “Jesus mother are you trying to kill me?!”

Katherine shrugs and starts grinning at her daughter, “No not today...too public...too many witnesses.”

“WOW that’s super reassuring! And I’m supposed to be getting in a car and spending time alone with you?!”

“Don’t be so dramatic! I said not today! You’ll be fine!”

Nicole playfully shoves her mom in the shoulder, “Hmm...and I wonder where I get the flair for the dramatic from?”

The two redheads start walking towards the car and before Katherine opens the driver’s door, she gets a serious look on her face and looks at Nicole, “I suppose now would not be a good time to tell you that you are adopted then huh?”

Nicole stares at her mom with a blank expression on her face and her mom bursts out laughing moments later. “You are absolutely ridiculous,” Nicole pulls the passenger door open and climbs into the vehicle.

The older redhead slides into her seat and looks over at her daughter ogling the pretty girl a couple doors down, “If you think that was ridiculous then you are not prepared for what is about to happen.”

“I am never prepared for you mother.”

Katherine plugs her phone into the car radio and pulls up her Apple music to a particular song and gets it in the spot she wants it to start playing. As she backs out of the driveway, she rolls down the windows to try and make it so the other girl hears what is about to happen too.

When the windows roll down, Nicole breaks her gaze from Waverly and looks over to her mom, “What are you doing? It’s super hot outside today.”

As the Haught women are driving by the Earp household, Katherine pushes play and the chorus of _Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover_ by Sophie B. Hawkins starts up. Without responding to her child, Katherine begins to belt out the words to a mortified Nicole in the passenger seat.

_Damn I wish I was your lover_

_I'd rock you till the daylight comes_

_Make sure you are smiling and warm_

_I am everything_

_Tonight I'll be your mother_

_I'll do such things to ease your pain_

_Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed_

Waverly looks up at the commotion driving by her and sees a frantic Nicole reaching for the car radio while Ms. Haught continues to butcher the 90s hit. Smiling and shaking her head, the brunette returns to her reading as the car passes out of view.

Nicole finally manages to get the song off and turns to stare at her mother, “What the hell was that?!”

“That was me singing one of my favorite songs from the 90s!”

“Oh really? That’s one of your favorite songs from the 90s? How come I find that hard to believe?”

“I don’t know what to tell you sweetheart. Why are you getting so worked up about this?”

An awkward silence falls over the vehicle as Nicole doesn’t respond and instead starts nervously twisting the ring around her finger.

“Is it because of that girl who lives down the street who you haven’t been able to take your eyes off of the whole day?”

Nicole stops fidgeting with her hands and takes a deep breath, “Her name is Waverly. Waverly Earp.”

Katherine takes a quick glance at her daughter and can see the apprehension written all over her face. “Well maybe it’s about time we had a discussion about Waverly Earp.”

“There’s nothing to discuss...she’s just a friend.”

Katherine turns onto a side street and pulls over on the side of the road. She shuts the car off and turns to look at Nicole. “You don’t want her to just be a friend though, do you?”

Nicole stares off into the distance, not meeting her mother’s eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”

The elder Haught places her finger on the side of Nicole’s chin and turns her daughter’s face so she is looking at her. “Your feelings are important too honey. I know you always put everyone else first but you matter too.”

Tears start to form in Nicole’s eyes as she looks at her mom, “I realize this...I really do. But this HAS to come from her first. There’s no other way. Plus I don’t even know if she’s gay.”

At that remark, Katherine can’t help but smile, “Please...she looked at you like you were the fudge to her sundae. That girl may not know it yet but give her some time to figure it out.”

Nicole’s lip twitches slightly upward, “Well the good news is, I am a pretty patient person.”

“Oh trust me, I know,” Katherine places her hand on Nicole’s leg. “Do you remember when you were eight? You would always get home from school and immediately finish your homework so you could go outside and shoot some baskets.”

“I would always go out there and work on whatever Dad told me to focus on that week.”

“You were so disappointed when he wouldn’t get off work early enough to practice with you. So I told you that maybe once in a blue moon, he might be able to come home early enough to practice with you.”

Nicole slightly smiles as the tears build up in her eyes, “And I took that phrase way too literally. Every day after I was done practicing, I would lay outside in the grass looking up at the sky, waiting for the blue moon to show up.”

As a few tears leak out of Nicole’s eyes, Katherine gently wipes them away and continues, “I think in the three months you did that, he maybe made it home early twice to practice with you. But every time you stayed out there waiting until I finally called you to come inside.”

“Every day I thought to myself that maybe it would be the day he could practice with me. And then there was the day I saw the cop car heading down our street so early and I got so excited because he had never gotten home that early before. Only, it wasn’t him that time either.”

Both Haught women now have tears rolling down their cheeks, “I remember how isolated you made yourself after your father’s death. I didn’t think you would touch a basketball again and I couldn’t let that happen.”

“You would be outside dribbling the ball, terribly I might add,” Nicole lets out a hollow laugh. “And you did that every day for a week until I finally came outside and joined you.”

“Hey! In my defense, I never played basketball. But you were always so patient with me and you never gave up. He would be so proud of you.”

Nicole gets a forlorn look on her face, “Do you think he would still be proud of me? Because of...you know...”

“Oh honey...you were basically that man’s world. Everything he did revolved around you. He would have loved you no matter what.”

“I still miss him so much...”

Katherine pulls her daughter into as much of a hug as they can get while sitting in the car, “Me too sweetheart, me too.”

The two redheads stay in each other’s embrace for a few moments before breaking apart. The elder Haught folds down her mirror to fix her makeup the best she can before turning the car back on and pulling away from the curb.

“So now that we have checked off getting emotional on this mother/daughter day, what do you say we go get something to eat?”

“I love that plan,” Nicole reaches for the radio to turn her mother’s 90s playlist back on and the opening bars of _I Want It That Way_ by the Backstreet Boys starts to play.

_You are my fire_

_The one desire_

_Believe when I say_

_I want it that way_

The two women belt out the entire song on the way to their destination and Nicole feels that damaged piece of her heart heal just a little bit more.

* * *

As Waverly watched the Haught women drive away, she couldn’t help but laugh at the antics those two probably pull with each other on a daily basis. She tried to resume her reading but she couldn’t get the picture of Nicole and her mom out of her head.

Packing up her stuff and walking back inside the house, Waverly goes up the stairs to her room and pulls out the box she has hidden under her bed. Sitting on the floor at the foot end of her bed, she starts rifling through the contents of the box, looking at the childhood pictures and moments actually captured with her parents and sister before it was too late.

Digging down to the bottom, Waverly comes across a small jewelry box, long forgotten. As she opens it up, she gasps slightly, fingers lightly grazing over the necklace laying inside. She had completely forgotten about the angel wing necklace her mother had given her right before the accident.

As the box was opened, a small note had fallen onto the floor beside Waverly. She reaches down to pick it up and unfolds it, instantly recognizing her mother’s handwriting.

_For my little angel,_

_We were so blessed when you came into this world and gave our family something we didn’t know we needed. Something so pure and full of light should always be protected. May this always protect you and remind you of just how special you are. Love you so much Waves._

_-Mama_

With shaky hands and tears in her eyes, Waverly gently takes the necklace out of the box and places it around her neck. She hasn’t worn the gift since her parents and sister passed away but as she lets the necklace fall onto her chest, she feels a sense of contentment and safety she hasn’t in a long time as the tears roll down her face.

Waverly is startled out of her thoughts by a soft knocking on the frame of her open door. She turns to see Wynonna standing in the doorway and tries to quickly wipe away her tears.

“Hey Nonna...I didn’t even hear you get back!” Waverly sniffles and hastily grabs everything she had been searching through and deposits them back in her box.

“Everything ok Waves?” Wynonna tries to tread carefully but little did she know, the use of the nickname after just reading the note, sends Waverly back into her crying fit.

Wynonna rushes over to the brunette, drops down to her knees, and pulls her into a tight hug, resting her head on top of her younger sister’s. The Earp sisters remain embraced for a few moments until Waverly has calmed down again.

With a little apprehension, Wynonna breaks the silence, “You wanna talk about what’s been going on with you lately? I know you have been acting different. I’m not completely oblivious.”

Waverly lifts her head off her sister’s chest and looks her in the eyes, “Everything is changing around me, but it's all too fast, you know, and it's like nobody ever asks me if I'm okay with it. Like, could everybody just stand still for one frickin' minute?!”

Wynonna chuckles after her little sister’s outburst, “Ok that was adorable but your words literally gave me nothing to go off of.”

The younger Earp hits her sister and scoffs, “This is not funny! I am in crisis here!”

Wynonna puts her hands up in surrender, “I’m sorry! Does this have to do with the whole Haught situation earlier?”

Waverly turns away from Wynonna and stares off into the distance. The older brunette gives her a chance to collect her thoughts and respond but when she doesn’t, Wynonna speaks up again.

“You know that it’s ok if you like Haught right?”

“What if I don’t know what I like?” The freshman sighs and puts her head in her hands.

Wynonna grabs her arm to pull her hand away from her face, “Then that would be ok too but you and I both know that’s bullshit.”

“We live in Purgatory, Wynonna. The closest thing we get to seeing a rainbow around here is after it rains.”

“Why do you care what people in this shitty town think?”

“Because! I have to live here for at least four more years!”

Wynonna’s face is getting more intense by the minute as she listens to her sister explain the situation. “Yeah that’s right Waverly! LIVE! Not just float through life barely existing.”

“Well not all of us can be as nonchalant and uncaring as you!” Waverly winces as the words come out of her mouth but she can’t change it now.

“You don’t think I hear what the people of this town say about me?! That I’m crazy, unhinged, a bad seed...” Wynonna’s eyes start to glass over.

“Wynonna, I’m sorry...”

“It’s ok babygirl...I just need you to be happy...to live your truth, whatever that may be. And if anyone has a problem with it, then I will show them just how crazy I can be.”

Waverly doesn’t think twice and launches herself at her older sister, forcing her into a hug. “Thanks Nonna...you deserve to be happy too you know.”

Wynonna gets out of the embrace and stands back up, slowly walking towards the door, “Maybe someday Waves.”

Waverly watches her sister walk across the hall to her room and shut the door. After that intense conversation, Waverly decides she is going to take a quick walk to clear her mind. As she walks out the door, she sees Nicole and her mom arriving back home after their mother/daughter day.

“Hey Waves! Whatcha doing?” Nicole yells from across the street.

“Just gonna head out for a little walk!”

“Mind if I join you? I would feel better if you weren’t walking alone!” Nicole’s mom takes the shopping bags from her daughter and Nicole starts walking towards Waverly.

“Are you gonna take no for an answer?” Waverly has some of that attitude back that Nicole remembers from the dodgeball game with Champ Hardy and she can’t help but smile.

“Well I was kinda hoping I wouldn’t have to...but I will respect your decision if you want to walk alone.”

Waverly looks at Nicole standing in front of her, dimples on display and hands slightly in her pockets and even if she wanted to say no, there was no way she was going to be able to do it now with her looking like that.

“Well it is your lucky day then because I would be happy to have some company.” Waverly flashes Nicole a shy smile and Nicole can’t help but wonder if everything Waverly Earp does will continue to make her feel like she has butterflies in her stomach.

_I think every day is lucky when I’m around you Waves._ Nicole smiles to herself as the two freshman start walking down the sidewalk past her house.

Waverly is the first to break the silence between them, “So how was your day with your mom?”

“Pretty good actually! Started off a little emotional but ended on a good note.”

“Emotional?” Waverly looks up at Nicole as she asks and damn it Nicole would answer anything that girl asked when she gave her the look she is giving her now.

Nicole being distracted by Waverly’s look causes her to not answer right away and Waverly takes that silence as a negative response, “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked...it’s not any of my business...we don’t have to talk about it at all...”

Nicole snaps out of it and gently grabs Waverly’s forearm to get her to stop spiraling, “Sorry I spaced out there for a second...I don’t mind you asking.”

The redhead takes a deep breath and continues, “My father was brought up in conversation today. He was a cop and he died in the line of duty about six years ago.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry Nicole...I had no idea. Apparently today was the day to get emotional over the parents we have lost because I did about my mom earlier too.” Waverly subconsciously touches the necklace she was still wearing and Nicole notices.

“Was that from her?” Nicole gestures towards the necklace.

“It was...I feel like I’m in a place now where I can wear it again.”

“I totally get that,” Nicole reaches for her neck and pulls a necklace out from underneath her shirt. “This was my dad’s wedding ring and my mom put it on a chain for me. I basically haven’t taken it off since I was old enough to be responsible for it.”

The two girls smile at each other and continue walking in a comfortable silence. They walk past the small ice cream shop a few blocks away from their houses and Nicole gets an idea.

“Hey Waves! I think I have an idea that will cheer both of us up!” She reaches down and grabs Waverly’s hand to pull her over to the shop.

Waverly is so distracted by the fact that Nicole is holding her hand right now that she doesn’t even register what is happening until Nicole lets go and waves her hand in front of her face.

“Earth to Waverly! What kind of cone would you like? My treat!” Nicole’s smile is also super distracting but Waverly manages to snap out of it without looking like a complete idiot.

“Umm...vanilla would be great, thanks!”

Nicole orders two vanilla cones, hands one to Waverly, and the girls continue walking back towards their neighborhood.

“You really didn’t have to do that,” Waverly speaks up as she nudges Nicole in the shoulder, “but thank you.”

“It was my pleasure.”

The freshmen are about a block away from home and almost finished with their ice cream when Waverly looks over at Nicole with a devilish grin. As Nicole is bringing her cone up towards her mouth, Waverly helps it along and causes the cone to hit Nicole in the nose, leaving behind a sticky ice cream residue.

Shocked momentarily, Nicole just stands there looking at Waverly with a betrayed look on her face and ice cream dripping from her nose, causing Waverly to burst out laughing.

“Oh...you are gonna regret that Waverly Earp!” Nicole starts running towards Waverly, causing the cheerleader to scream and start running towards her house. The ruckus they were making could be heard from blocks away but the girls didn’t care.

The noise did cause Wynonna to get up and look out the window just in time to see Waverly make it to their front yard. As she stepped foot on their property, Waverly felt her feet leave the ground as Nicole caught up with her, wrapped her arm around her stomach, and pulled her screaming back onto the sidewalk.

Both girls are completely out of breath and Nicole sets Waverly back down on the ground, but turns her around so they are now facing each other. Waverly is frozen in place as Nicole moves her face in a close proximity to her own. _Is Nicole about to kiss me right now?!_ Waverly’s eyes close and she can feel Nicole’s breath on her face as she brings her still ice cream covered nose to Waverly’s and rubs some of the ice cream on her nose and face.

Waverly opens her eyes to see a beaming Nicole staring back at her, “I. Cannot. Believe. You. Just. Did. That.”

“I told you Waverly Earp...you were gonna regret that and I never lose,” she winks at the cheerleader, giving them both a sense of déjà vu as a similar conversation occurred here a couple months ago.

Wynonna has seen enough of this Notebook crap and opens up the window to yell out to the girls, “Alright Haught, I think you have made Waverly scream enough today, don’t you?”

Both of their faces turn instantly red and Nicole manages to stammer out a response, “Your sister’s right...I should probably get going.”

“Thanks again for the ice cream!”

“No problem...I will see you around Waves!” And with that, Nicole turns around and walks across the street to her house and Waverly walks with determination straight up to Wynonna’s room.

Waverly flings open her sister’s door, “What the hell was that Wynonna?!”

The older Earp laughs, “Don’t know what you like my ass!”

The younger brunette throws her hands in the air, “Ugh! You are the worst!” She turns and walks out of Wynonna’s room as her sister is still laughing.

Waverly throws herself face down on her bed and replays the events that took place in the last ten minutes. _Even if she is right, and god forbid I actually tell her that, what does that even mean? And what am I supposed to do about it?_

* * *

It had been a couple weeks since the girls had their ice cream “date” and Waverly was trying really hard to stop overanalyzing the entire thing. After that day, Nicole had been interacting with Waverly like she normally does but Waverly had been an absolute mess. Getting embarrassed by Nicole’s flirting, stammering over her words, being completely distracted whenever Nicole is nearby are just a few things plaguing Waverly recently.

The cheerleader is hoping that today’s practice after school will help get her mind of off everything, if only for a couple hours. As she gathers her things and heads down to the gymnasium, she notices a note taped to the door: _Play practice happening after school. Cheerleading practice will be held at football field._

_You have got to be kidding me..._ Waverly sighs and starts heading out to the football field where she is bound to see Nicole practicing as well. She sees the rest of her squad stretching on the sidelines and goes to join them.

Even though Nicole is supposed to be focused on practice, the moment she found out the cheerleading squad would essentially be practicing with them, she has been distracted. As each cheerleader makes their way down to the field, she is waiting for that special one to arrive. Nicole looks up for probably like the tenth time in the past fifteen minutes and catches sight of the cheerleader she has been waiting for, making her way over to the water coolers.

The football player quickly scoops up her water bottle and nonchalantly makes her way over to the coolers as well. As she is walking over, she cannot stop staring at the brunette. _The way the sun is shining off her hair makes her look almost angelic. And the way she looks in that cheerleading uniform? Don’t even get me started on that._

“Hey! Fancy meeting you here,” Nicole smirks as she walks up to the cooler next to Waverly.

Waverly jumps, caught completely off guard, “Oh my gosh! You scared me!”

As she looks over at the redhead, she is pretty sure her brain has short circuited. She remotely registers that Nicole is saying something to her but right now she can’t get over the way the wide receiver looks in her football gear and practice jersey.

She is snapped out of her thoughts as she feels cold water running down the back of her hand and realizes she needs to stop filling her water bottle. Once she has the lid back on, she notices Nicole looking at her expectantly, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Nicole laughs and shakes her head slightly, “I was apologizing for scaring you, so sorry again.” She notices water dripping from Waverly’s hand and pulls off the towel from her belt and hands it to her, “Also sorry for making your hand all wet.”

Waverly’s face turns red as Nicole winks at her and she reaches for the towel, focusing on it like it is the most interesting thing in the world. She dries her hand off and hands the towel back to Nicole, “Thanks.”

“My pleasure,” Nicole smiles that dimpled smile of hers and both girls stand there looking at one another for a moment.

“Haught!” Dolls yells from across the field, “Let’s go! We’re ready!”

“Duty calls!” Nicole gives Waverly a quick salute and turns to go back to practice.

“Wait!” Waverly grabs Nicole’s wrist before she gets too far, “You didn’t even get to fill up your water bottle!”

Nicole’s grin gets even bigger as she leans in close to whisper in Waverly’s ear, “Can I let you in on a little secret?” She pulls away to look the shorter girl in the face. All Waverly can muster is a small nod as Nicole continues, “I filled my water bottle about fifteen minutes ago.”

Nicole turns and jogs towards the rest of her team on the field, leaving a stunned Waverly in her wake. When Waverly’s brain finally catches up, the cheerleader shakes her head at how ridiculous Nicole can be and heads back to her squad to practice.

Both practices are well underway and to say Nicole is having an off day would be an understatement. Her attempts in trying to impress the cheerleader seem to be working against her and she is instead finding herself distracted by her more than anything.

While standing on the sidelines, Nicole can’t help but look over at the cheerleaders having their practice and she spots Waverly almost instantly. The brunette happens to be a flyer on the team and every time they do a stunt, the football player is mesmerized by the way Waverly looks. And not just in a ‘dang she can really wear that uniform’ way but the way she performs the stunts is so graceful and flawless that it’s hard to look away.

While Nicole is stuck in her trance, she doesn’t hear Dolls calling out to her until he is basically right in her face.

“Haught!!! Are we gonna play some football today or what?!” Dolls throws his hands in the air as Nicole snaps out of it and looks at her quarterback.

“Isn’t that what we have been doing?” The redhead gives a little attitude back and immediately regrets it when she sees the look on Dolls face after the words leave her mouth.

Dolls walks up close enough so no one else can hear their conversation, “Well that’s what some of us have been doing today.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Dolls stands his ground, “You know what it means, Haught. Get your head in the game and out of your cheerleading daydream.”

The quarterback turns and jogs out to the field and as much as Nicole wants to open her mouth and say something back, she decides against it because the guy wasn’t necessarily totally wrong. She turns to grab her helmet and jogs out after him so she doesn’t get in even more trouble.

The cheerleaders have decided to take a small break and have gathered on the sidelines to watch the football practice. Waverly searches for #19 and it doesn’t take her too long to find the wide receiver with the red hair poking out from underneath her helmet. After watching a few plays, Waverly is awestruck by the skill and agility Nicole possesses and she can’t focus her attention towards anything else on the field.

Rosita is calling the squad back to practice but Waverly stays to watch one more play. She watches as Nicole adjusts her gloves at the line of scrimmage, something Waverly noticed is usually a sign that the ball is coming in her direction.

The ball is snapped and Dolls drops back to pass. Nicole takes off on her route, stutter steps and gets past the defender, heading towards the sideline in Waverly’s direction wide open. Dolls lets the pass go and the brunette is sure there is no way Nicole is going to be able to run practically the width of the field to catch up to the ball. That’s also when Waverly realizes the ball is heading right for her.

Everything seems like it is in slow motion but the cheerleader still can’t seem to move from her spot on the sidelines. Nicole is basically in a full sprint at this point, trying to get to the ball not only before it goes out of bounds, but also before it takes Waverly out.

At the last possible moment, Nicole leaps into the air and extends out as far as she can. Her hands make contact with the football as she brings the pass in, planting her feet just in bounds to make the catch. The only unfortunate thing is her momentum is still taking her right at Waverly.

Having to make a split second decision, the wide receiver executes a quick spin move to avoid the other girl and comes to a gradual stop a few feet away. Waverly braced herself for impact but instead feels a breeze go by her and when she opens her eyes, she sees Nicole jogging back to the huddle as if nothing happened.

“Waverly!” Rosita is calling her back to practice and the freshman takes one last puzzled look in Nicole’s direction and joins the rest of her team.

The rest of practice goes by pretty quickly for Waverly and the cheerleaders finish up a little bit before the football team does. Waverly stays behind because she is bound and determined to have a conversation with Nicole after her near death experience.

Waverly is waiting outside the locker room when she sees Nicole walk out and runs up behind her, “Hey Flash Gordon! Wait up!”

Nicole stops and turns to see Waverly quickly approaching and laughs, “What did you just call me?”

“Flash Gordon?...” The brunette looks at the ground embarrassed as Nicole’s smile gets even bigger.

“Nerd.” Nicole bumps Waverly with her shoulder, causing the shorter girl to smile too and the two girls subconsciously start walking back home together.

“I’m not really sure how I’m the nerd here when every chance you get, you go into superhero mode...”

Nicole stops in her tracks, looks up towards the sky, and puts her hands on her hips in a stereotypical superhero pose, “I have no idea what you are talking about!”

Waverly looks back at the redhead and shakes her head, laughing at this ridiculousness, “See? Now who’s the nerd?”

Nicole breaks out of her pose and winks at the other girl, “Still you!”

“Touché...” Waverly sticks her tongue out at Nicole and the freshmen continue walking towards their neighborhood.

After a few moments of silence, Waverly speaks up again, “But seriously...thanks for saving me from having to have ‘Death by Football’ as the headline of my obituary.”

“Oh, that? I was just doing my job out on the field,” Nicole shrugs off the gratitude from the cheerleader. _I’m not about to tell her that I’m pretty sure I have never run that fast before in my life. That my lungs were burning and it took awhile for my heart rate to get back to a normal speed. Those things didn’t matter because it was her safety in question._

“Ok sure...whatever helps you sleep at night,” Waverly teases as the girls stop outside of the Earp household.

“Well, looks like this is your stop. See you tomorrow, Waves.” Nicole doesn’t wait for a response and turns to head the couple houses down to her place, leaving a slightly confused Waverly standing on the sidewalk outside her house.

_What was that all about? The flirtiness is still there but something was off just now. She should have made some innuendo about her and sleeping._ Waverly furrows her eyebrows at those thoughts and makes her way inside the house for the night.

As Nicole closes the front door, she leans her back against it with a big sigh and closes her eyes. _I haven’t gotten this girl to make the first move yet and I have been pretty blunt so far. Maybe I need to back off a little bit? Maybe I need to do something that means more? Maybe both? Does that even make sense?_

Nicole opens her eyes and starts walking further into the house, “Mom? You home?”

“In the kitchen, sweetie!”

“Ok! I need your help with something...”

* * *

A couple months go by and in the blink of an eye, it is the day before Christmas break. The morning classes seemed to drag by and when it is finally time for lunch, the anxious energy for the school day to be over is at an all time high. Waverly finds Chrissy sitting down at a table eating already and joins her.

“Oh my god...could this day go by any slower?!” Chrissy exclaims as she shoves her hamburger in her mouth.

“Well hello to you too Chrissy,” Waverly sets down her tray and tries not to look too disgusted by her friend’s eating habits in the process.

“I’m literally dying...” Chrissy manages to get out with a mouth full of hamburger.

“You are going to live drama queen,” Waverly rolls her eyes and starts in on her lunch. “I’m gonna be the one doing the dying if you continue eating your food that way.”

“Sorry...but while we are on the topic of dying, have you seen Haughtstuff lately? She has been MIA since English class.”

Waverly sighs, “I’m not even gonna ask you how our current conversation made you think of Nicole but no I have not seen her recently either.”

“Hmm...that’s weird. She’s usually pretty much on time for everything.” Chrissy shrugs and goes back to consuming her lunch, leaving Waverly concerned with where Nicole is.

* * *

The bell sounded meaning it was time for lunch but before Nicole heads down to the cafeteria, she ducks into one of the restrooms to wait until students clear out of the halls. There is something she has to do that is currently burning a hole in her backpack and she can’t wait to deposit it where she needs to and be done with it. After waiting a few minutes, the redhead walks out of the restrooms and towards the freshmen locker area.

Once in the locker area, Nicole goes over to Waverly’s locker and takes her backpack off her shoulders. Setting the backpack on the ground in front of her, she opens up her bag to reveal a small box wrapped in Christmas paper and adorned with a blue bow. Placing the box inside Waverly’s locker along with the note, Nicole shuts the locker, places her backpack on her shoulders again, and starts walking towards the cafeteria for lunch.

Already late, Nicole quickly jumps in line and gets her tray of food. Spotting Waverly and Chrissy, she makes her way over to their table to join them.

“Hey guys!” Nicole loudly announces herself as she grabs the chair between the two best friends.

“Hey look Waverly! She’s not dead, don’t worry.” Chrissy teases as she looks in her friend’s direction.

“Thank you Captain Obvious for that magnificent observation!” Waverly salutes Chrissy while chuckling the entire time.

“So what were you doing Haught?” Chrissy raises her eyebrow and waits for the football player to respond.

“I just had a couple of last minute class things I had to take care of before break,” Nicole responds and then quickly shoves food in her mouth hoping to avoid answering any more questions.

Waverly looks over at Nicole and tries to analyze if the girl is telling the truth or not. She has no reason to believe that she is lying so she lets it go. The girls make a little small talk and before they know it, lunchtime is over.

After the girls take back their trays, they are about to go their separate ways until Chrissy brings them into an awkward group hug. “If I don’t see you guys again, have a good Christmas break, and I will see you guys when we get back!”

Both girls being shocked by this physical contact from Chrissy manage to squeak out a “Same Chrissy” before she starts walking off to her next class. Waverly and Nicole share a ‘what the hell just happened’ look before both heading towards their Geometry class.

* * *

The last couple of hours were a blur and by the time the final bell sounds for the day, Waverly is way past ready to get out of the building. As she gets to the locker area, she opens her locker and notices a gift sitting on the top shelf. She picks up the small box and sees the note attached to it and takes it off to read it.

Unbeknownst to Waverly, Nicole has set up shop around the corner to see what the cheerleader’s reaction is to the gift. She tries to look like she is very involved with her phone so she doesn’t draw attention but also while paying as much attention to Waverly as possible.

As Waverly opens up the note, she can’t help but feel like this handwriting is eerily familiar to someone she knows but she can’t quite put her finger on who. She begins reading:

_Waverly,_

_I’m sorry that I missed your birthday this year. I didn’t find out when it was until it was too late. I hope this makes up for it and I promise I won’t forget it ever again. When I saw this gift, I couldn’t get over how pretty it was and thought that an equally pretty girl should have this._

_Merry Christmas,_

_Your Secret Santa_

After reading the note, Waverly already has tears in her eyes and she hasn’t even seen what’s inside yet. Nicole is looking on, holding her breath, as she watches the brunette carefully unwrap the present and open the box.

When Waverly opens the box, she can’t help but slightly gasp at the sapphire bracelet inside. She takes the bracelet out of the box very carefully and places it on her wrist. Admiring the way it looks, it dawns on Waverly that this bracelet is made of sapphires. _My birthstone. Someone finally remembered my birthday._ That’s when the silent tears started to fall.

Seeing Waverly admire the bracelet brings a huge smile to Nicole’s face and she finally lets out the breath she had been keeping in. When she sees Waverly start to cry, she wants to go comfort her but knows that in doing so, she would reveal herself as the gift giver so she starts walking towards her mom’s office to get a ride home.

Waverly takes a few moments to compose herself and then gathers her things up to go enjoy Christmas break. As she is walking out to Wynonna’s car, she can’t help the smile that comes to her face as she thinks back on the first semester of high school. _That first day was so chaotic and I thought for sure freshman year was going to be a big mess. But now looking at everything that happened, I wouldn’t want it any other way._

As she opens the passenger door, a waiting Wynonna looks over at her concerned. “Hey babygirl, is everything ok? You look like you have been crying...”

“I have but I promise it is happy crying. I am perfect.” Waverly looks down at her bracelet and smiles again as the two sisters drive off, starting their holiday break.

* * *

Angel Wing Necklace from Mama Earp

Sapphire Bracelet from Nicole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So did we need a few tissues for this one guys? Maybe the whole box? A tub of ice cream too? haha
> 
> If this chapter pulled at your heart strings or you have anything else you wanna share, hit me up on here or on Twitter @flugge34
> 
> Next chapter is honestly a continuation of the emotional overload from this chapter...next week join me for a Christmas special just in time for Christmas (honestly didn't plan that but it's so perfect lol). We will get some gift exchanges between multiple characters, some unexpected dinner guests, and finish off with a big basketball/cheerleading scene.
> 
> Until next week! <3


	4. Freshman Year- Holidays, Sports, & Drama, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's that time of year! Bundle up as your presents is required for Christmastime in Purgatory! This chapter we get multiple gift exchanges, unexpected dinner guests, Christmas movie bonding, and finish out with a cheerleading/basketball game. Ready your tissues again as this chapter packs a big punch in the feels and prepare your heart for the emotional journey that is spending time with family and friends during the holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays Earpers!!!
> 
> First of all, I just want to wish all of you guys a happy holidays and hope you enjoy time with your family and friends! I can't thank you guys enough for sticking with me through this story so far and I'm so thankful for you everyday. And for those of you that this time of year is hard for, I will be thinking about you and if you need anyone to talk to, you know where to find me <3
> 
> Now all that being said, I'm so ready to share this chapter with you guys! Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year and basketball is my favorite sport and I think both things will be pretty evident during this chapter :) There will be some pictures included at the end of the chapter to show the Christmas gifts the characters exchanged amongst each other as well.
> 
> This chapter is snow joke when it comes to the feels so hold on for deer life as you get sleighed by the chemis-tree of our characters throughout the holiday season in Purgatory. (Alright I'm done with the puns now, promise lol)
> 
> Without further ado, I give you Chapter Four! Much love Earpers! <3

Christmas morning in the Earp household is usually fairly uneventful as Gus has to go into Shorty’s and make sure the Christmas lunch is going off without a hitch. The Earp sisters take this opportunity to sleep in and do more of a private gift exchange with just the two of them.

As Waverly wakes up, she goes over to her dresser to grab her gift for Wynonna and walks across the hall to her sister’s room. Wynonna is still asleep so Waverly carefully sets down the gift and jumps onto the bed.

“Wynonna! It’s Christmas!!!” The freshman yells while pouncing on the bed and her sister relentlessly until the older brunette starts to wake up.

“C’mon Waves! Just five more minutes...” Wynonna groans as she pulls the covers up over her head.

Waverly does not acknowledging that as an acceptable answer and pulls the blankets completely off Wynonna, grinning when she sees her sister has continued their tradition of wearing the same Christmas onesie she was currently sporting.

Wynonna looks at Waverly with one eye open and a scowl on her face, “What are you smiling about?”

“It’s Christmas, Wy. What’s there to not smile about?” Waverly moves to the end of the bed and sits, patiently waiting for Wynonna to get up. “Plus, I can’t wait to see what you think of your gift!”

Not wanting to ruin her younger sister’s enthusiasm and seeing that she really has no other choice, Wynonna retrieves her gift, sits back down on the bed across from her, and offers the gift out in front of Waverly.

Waverly takes the gift and sets it aside, “I opened first last year so you are opening first this year!” She leans over to grab the gift she had set on the floor earlier and hands it to her sister.

Wynonna thinks about refusing to open first but decides against it when she sees how much excitement her little sister is trying to contain inside her body at the moment. Wynonna unwraps the present to reveal a white shadow box with the word ‘Memories’ on it.

“I hope you like it...I made it thinking you could put movie stubs, concert tickets, notes from Dolls, or any other miscellaneous stuff you wanted in it and then you could look back at the memories if you needed a good laugh or cry or reminder that you have people who care about you or--”

Wynonna reaches out and puts her hand on Waverly’s leg to stop her rambling, “You don’t have to be nervous, Waves. It’s great...thank you.”

Waverly lets out a deep breath, “You’re welcome.” Wynonna gives her a quick smile before gesturing towards the gift sitting next to the cheerleader on the bed.

The younger brunette’s eagerness is written all over her face as she carefully picks up the gift and sets it out in front of her, “It is so big!”

“That’s what she said!” Wynonna puts her hand up for a high five that she returns herself as Waverly looks at her disapprovingly.

“Really Nonna?” She shakes her head as she starts opening the gift. After the first round of paper has been removed, Waverly opens the box to find five separate pieces of a painted canvas. She lays them out on the bed to see them make a picture of a rainbow overlooking a field of sunflowers.

“It’s beautiful...” Waverly lightly grazes her hand over the set of canvases.

Wynonna looks out the window of her room, “I just figured when, and only when, you are ready...you can put it up in your room and...”

Waverly notices Wynonna is struggling with the rest of the words and she looks up from the gift. Noticing movement out of the corner of her eye, Wynonna turns to look at her baby sister and manages to continue her thought.

“Then there will always be a rainbow in Purgatory just for you. Not only after it rains.”

Tears are welling up in Waverly’s eyes as she crashes into Wynonna for a hug, “You remembered?”

Wynonna laughs, “Of course I remembered...you and Haught kinda make it hard to forget.”

Waverly pulls back from her sister and slaps her on the arm, “Wynonna! Nicole and I are just friends.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

Waverly rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, “You do realize you are only two years older than me right?”

Wynonna looks at Waverly and narrows her eyes, “I believe changing the subject is my move so you aren’t getting off that easy little sis.”

Waverly responds by looking down at her hands as if they were the most fascinating things in the world so Wynonna continues, “I have seen the way Haught looks at you...” Waverly looks up and meets the older brunette’s eyes, “and I know you are scared babygirl but if you follow your heart then there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Waverly can’t help the snort that escapes from her, “Umm...who are you and what have you done with my sister?”

“What? I can’t be sentimental sometimes?”

“No! You totally can but honestly that was like Nicholas Sparks level sentimental right there.”

Wynonna’s cheeks start turning red as she mumbles under her breath, “I mean Dolls and I did watch _A Walk to Remember_ the other night...”

Waverly’s eyes widen at Wynonna’s admission, “Did I just hear that right?! Oh my God, you guys are too cute!”

Wynonna walks towards the doorway and gestures outside of it, “Alright I think that’s your cue to leave now...this was fun...let’s do it again next year!”

“Aww c’mon Wynonna. I’m just messing with you!” The older Earp gestures outside the door again and Waverly reluctantly gathers her things and heads towards the door.

Before Waverly walks out the door, she stops and gives Wynonna another hug, “All joking aside, I hope you and Dolls have a good time today with his family and then I will see you later when Gus gets back.”

Wynonna pulls away from the embrace but keeps her hands on Waverly’s shoulders, “Are you gonna be ok by yourself for a little bit?”

“I’m sure I can find something to entertain myself with,” Waverly smiles as Wynonna lets go of her shoulders and the cheerleader walks across the hallway, back to her room again.

Standing in the doorway, Waverly turns to look at her older sister, “Merry Christmas, Nonna.”

“Merry Christmas, Waves.”

* * *

Nicole wakes up on Christmas morning to the faint smell of holiday dinner wafting up the stairs to her room. She’s not sure how she ended up falling asleep last night with the anticipation of her favorite holiday building, but apparently she managed to get a few hours in. She slips on her ugly Christmas sweater and a pair of skinny jeans and quickly makes her way to the kitchen, where she finds her mom starting on the meal preparations.

Katherine is so preoccupied with the food, she doesn’t notice her daughter come walking in. Nicole goes up to her mom and puts an arm around her shoulder, “Merry Christmas, Mom!”

Katherine jumps and turns towards the girl, wielding the gravy ladle like a weapon, “Nicole! My goodness! You scared the daylights out of me!”

“Sorry!” Nicole sheepishly backs away from her mother with her hands in the air, “How is it going in here?”

Nicole’s mom waves around the ladle, “This isn’t a holdup...you can put your hands down.”

“Could’ve fooled me! You could do some damage with that kitchen utensil!” Nicole smirks as she grabs some of the chocolate covered pretzels the women had made the night before and pops them into her mouth.

Katherine smacks Nicole’s hand away from the desserts, “That is not what you should be eating right now!”

“But Mom...it’s Christmas...” Nicole whines as she gives the best puppy dog eyes she can possibly muster at the moment.

The older redhead just gives her daughter ‘the look’ and waits until she sets the other pretzels back down on the waxed paper, “Those eyes may have worked on me when you were younger but unfortunately for you, I have now become immune to them.”

“Ugh...fine!” the freshman resigns to grabbing a pop tart and a glass of milk for breakfast to tide her over and sits down at the kitchen table.

For a few minutes, all that can be heard are various noises associated with the making of the Christmas meal. As Nicole is finishing up, Katherine stops her as she is leaving the room, “Are you still heading out to the nursing home before we eat?”

Nicole pops her head back around the corner, “Yeah, I figured I would go out there for a couple hours and then come back. Is that ok?”

“That should actually be perfect timing with the food! Did you need a ride out there? I’m kinda preoccupied but I’m sure we could figure something out.”

Nicole grabs her coat and gets all bundled up, “Nah, I decided I would just walk over there. It’s only a few blocks away so I will be fine.”

Katherine wipes her hands on her apron, walks to the front door where her daughter is waiting, and pulls her in for a hug, “Merry Christmas, sweetheart. I love you so much!”

“Love you too, Mom.” Nicole pulls away from their embrace, “I will be back in a couple hours!”

As Nicole goes to open the door, the women start to smell something burning and Katherine quickly runs back in the kitchen to tend to the food. Nicole shakes her head and walks out into the brisk morning air, ready to participate in one of her favorite holiday traditions.

* * *

It has only been about an hour since Wynonna left to spend some time with Dolls and Waverly is dying. Gus is not set to be back for a few more hours as well and the cheerleader isn’t sure she is going to survive her boredom. _I can’t even see what Chrissy is up to because they are out of town today._ Waverly sighs and looks over at the Christmas gift from her sister when an idea hits her.

Waverly goes into her closet and rummages through some of her extra Christmas supplies until she finds a simple card. After assembling the perfect message, she puts the card inside the envelope and in her flowy handwriting writes a name on the front: Nicole.

The brunette goes back into her closet and picks out a dressy red blouse and a pair of jeans and changes out of her Christmas onesie. Walking down the stairs, she locates her coat and walks out the front door towards Nicole’s. She doesn’t want to intrude on the plans Nicole has with her family, but figures if she just goes over there quickly and drops off the card, it will give her something to do for a moment and she will be as non-intrusive as possible.

Arriving at the Haught’s front door, Waverly knocks a couple times, waiting for a response. When she doesn’t get a response, her nervousness starts to build and she wonders if this whole thing was a mistake. _Nicole is going to think this is such a stupid ‘gift’ anyway...I should just go before I embarrass myself even more._ Waverly turns and as she is walking down the first step, the front door opens up behind her.

“Sorry I tried to get to the door as fast as I could but had to make sure the food would be ok for a few moments!” Katherine exhales deeply as she stands in the doorway.

Waverly looks over her shoulder but doesn’t move from the top step, “No, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have bothered you guys today. I will be on my way.”

The freshman starts to continue down the stairs, but stops when she hears Nicole’s mom call out to her, “Waverly, wait! Is there something I can do for you?”

“Umm...is Nicole around? I just have something that I wanted to give to her,” she gestures down at the envelope grasped tightly in her hands.

“Unfortunately she is not here right now. Every Christmas she goes down to the nursing home and plays carols on the piano for the residents there for a couple hours. You’re more than welcome to come inside and wait for her to return if you don’t have any other plans. She should be back in less than an hour.”

“Oh no...that’s ok! I wouldn’t want to intrude on your celebration, Ms. Haught. I will just be going now.”

“Waverly Earp, you stop this nonsense coming out of your mouth! It’s not an intrusion if I offer and it is not Ms. Haught...please call me Katherine.”

The brunette smiles and walks back up the couple of steps to the doorway, “Ok...Katherine...I will come in and wait for Nicole under one condition.”

Katherine raises her eyebrow at the girl, somewhat caught off guard by her response that it takes a moment to respond herself, “Oh is that so? Well alright, let’s hear it!”

“Let me make myself useful and help you with the cooking.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that...you didn’t come over here to work.”

Waverly crosses her arms over her chest and looks Nicole’s mom right in the eye, “It’s nothing to be concerned with if I offer.”

Katherine cannot help the laugh that escapes her mouth after Waverly uses her own words against her, “Touché Waverly Earp...in that case, come on in.” She gestures inside and lets Waverly walk into the house ahead of her.

Unable to stop smirking from their interaction, Katherine shakes her head as she thinks about her daughter. _Oh Nicole...you have no idea what you are getting yourself into with this one._

* * *

Nicole opens the front door to a mouthwatering aroma coming from the kitchen and takes off her coat and sets it on the rack. _That’s super strange...there’s usually at least one dish burning by now when she tries to take on a big meal._ She is just about to call out to her mom when she hears her talking and starts walking towards the kitchen.

“Mom, I have only been gone for a couple hours. Please tell me you haven’t lost it and started talking to the turkey,” Nicole laughs as she rounds the corner and steps into the kitchen.

Nicole stops dead in her tracks as she sees Waverly standing next to her mother, tending to the potatoes. She had no idea she would be seeing Waverly over Christmas break, let alone have her standing in her house on Christmas day.

Waverly turns around when she hears Nicole speak, “Ouch...I have been called a lot of things but turkey is definitely a new one.”

“Oh, no! I--That’s--Not--I was not referring to you as a turkey, I promise!” Nicole splutters as Waverly tries her hardest to keep a straight face and seem angry about the whole thing.

After a few moments, she cannot keep her laughter contained and Katherine can’t help but join in as well. “I don’t know if I have seen her that concerned before in my life,” Katherine high fives Waverly as the two continue to laugh at Nicole’s expense.

Nicole’s face starts to turn red, “Well I’m glad you two are finding this funny...Merry Christmas to me.”

“Aww, honey we are just messing with you,” Katherine walks over to her daughter and places a kiss on her forehead. “How was playing at the nursing home?”

Nicole’s face softens, “It was good! I think the residents enjoyed it quite a bit and it was nice for me to get to play again for other people. How was the cooking?”

Katherine looks tentatively at Nicole, “Honestly, Waverly couldn’t have shown up at a better time. Thankfully she didn’t have any plans for lunch either or I might have had quite the mess on my hands. She’s a lifesaver for sure!”

“Oh, nonsense! She makes it seem so much worse than it actually was,” Waverly waves her hand dismissively towards the two Haught women.

“She is being modest, trust me,” Katherine whispers in Nicole’s direction. As she goes back over to Waverly and the food, she speaks over her shoulder, “Sweetheart, would you mind setting the table for the three of us? The food should be almost ready!”

Nicole goes to grab the plates, silverware, glasses, etc., and tries to keep herself as calm as possible while doing so. _This is no big deal. Just about to have a casual Christmas dinner with my really good...neighbor? Classmate? Friend? Crush? All of the above?_ Nicole takes a deep breath. _What could possibly go wrong?_

Out of the corner of her eye, Waverly watches as Nicole grabs the dinnerware and sets the table. _Something seems off with Nicole. I don’t know if I have ever seen her this anxious before. Not being her usual confident self is kind of...adorable? But also concerning at the same time._

Nicole gets the table set and starts placing the finished food on it while Katherine begins carving the turkey. Waverly helps Nicole and brings some of the food over to the table and soon everything is ready to go and it’s time to eat.

The three women sit down and after an awkward silence, Katherine rolls her eyes and breaks the silence, “For goodness sake, I know this isn’t the first time you two have eaten together! Start grabbing some food and Nicole could you be a dear and pass me the biscuits?”

Nicole reaches for the biscuits, hands them to her mother, and then looks over at Waverly, “Waves, could you please pass me the green beans?”

Waverly gives the green beans to Nicole and as she is passing the bowl, Nicole notices her wearing the bracelet she had anonymously gifted her a couple days ago. The brunette sees her staring at her wrist and subconsciously places her hand over it.

“New Christmas gift?” Nicole gestures towards the jewelry Waverly is covering up.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. The last day of school before break it was sitting in my locker with a note. I have no idea who it is from but it is beautiful and the note was super sweet too.”

Katherine looks knowingly over at her daughter as Nicole responds, “Well whoever it was must have really good taste in jewelry...and in people.”

Waverly’s cheeks start to turn pink as she keeps looking down at her wrist, “I haven’t wanted to take it off ever since I got it. I may never take it off...”

Nicole smiles to herself and the trio starts to dig into the Christmas feast. After the initial compliments about how good the food is are thrown around, comfortable small talk settles across the table.

The women finish eating and start to clean up and put the leftover food away. Once those tasks have been completed, Waverly starts heading towards the door, “Thank you so much for having me over! I’m glad I didn’t have to be alone for as long as I was supposed to be today. I appreciate it more than you know but I should be going back now since I have overstayed my welcome already.”

Katherine and Nicole share a look before Katherine yells after Waverly, “Waverly, wait!” She stops and turns around, “What time do Gus and Wynonna get back?”

Waverly looks at the time, “Umm...probably not for a couple more hours yet. Why?”

“Well, Nicole and I have this tradition where after we eat, we watch _It’s a Wonderful Life_ and we would love to have you join us, if you like?”

“As long as Nicole is ok with that, I would love to.” Waverly looks at Nicole who has been silent for this part of the conversation.

The redhead looks up and makes eye contact as she brings her gaze to Waverly’s, “Of course you can join us. No one should be alone on Christmas.”

“Perfect! It’s settled then!” Katherine exclaims as she goes over to the collection of DVDs and pulls out the one she needs. “You girls get situated and I will get this started!”

Nicole and Waverly go to sit down on the loveseat, leaving the reclining chair for Nicole’s mom. Nicole grabs a blanket and the two girls sit basically as far apart from each other as physically possible. Katherine puts the DVD in the player, turns around to see the girls’ current position, and shakes her head as she goes to sit in her chair.

About thirty minutes into the movie, Nicole musters up the courage to glance over at Waverly and notices that the girl is sporting some major goosebumps. She leans over and whispers to Waverly, catching her off guard, “Hey I don’t know if you know this, but there are these really cool things called blankets and when someone is cold, they can use it to warm up.”

Waverly glares over at Nicole, who has the biggest grin on her face, “No way! That sounds like some sort of sorcery to me...I don’t know if I can take that chance.”

Nicole leans back over and opens up the blanket to Waverly, “You sure? It’s pretty Haught under here...”

Nicole winks at Waverly and the cheerleader rolls her eyes, “You must think you’re pretty funny, huh?”

“I like to think I have my moments,” she gestures back at the blanket, “Better hurry and decide...you’re letting all the heat out.”

Unbeknownst to the girls, Katherine has been watching the entire interaction transpire and can’t help but notice how well this Earp girl keeps Nicole on her toes. _Note to self: keep track of everything that happens today because I’m sure we are gonna need it in the future._

Waverly gives Nicole a look and slowly makes her way over to share the blanket. She grabs the blanket and pulls it up close around her neck, relishing in the instant warmth it provides her. They settle into the back of the loveseat and put their legs up on the coffee table in front of them.

“Careful, my blanket might have put a spell on you,” Nicole sticks out her hand towards Waverly and wiggles her fingers.

Waverly scoffs and shakes her head at the other girl. She also can’t help but notice the way Nicole’s eyes twinkle and her dimples pop out when she smiles as big as she is right now. She quickly returns her attention back to the movie before she gets too distracted. _I’m pretty sure the spell I have to worry about is not one coming from your blanket at all._

The next thirty minutes of the movie has gone by and during that time, the two girls have inched their way closer to one another under the blanket and their sides are now touching. The feeling of safety and comfort as they finally touch almost overwhelms Waverly but she manages to turn those feelings of anxiousness into feelings of contentment.

Now that the movie is about halfway done, like clockwork, Waverly is starting to feel her eyelids get heavy. It is almost too easy for her to lean her head down on Nicole’s shoulder and start to drift off to sleep. Nicole doesn’t say anything or move, but smiles to herself as she continues watching the movie.

Nicole doesn’t last much longer than Waverly and you can blame it on the food or maybe on the fact that when these two are around each other, all other things seem to fade away and soon enough, Nicole has rested her head on top of Waverly’s and fallen asleep too.

Katherine realizes her company has fallen asleep and looks over at the completely precious sight of the two girls cuddled up to each other. _This is too good. I have to get a picture._ Katherine stands up and pulls her phone out of her pocket. Careful to not make any noise, she stealthily takes a picture and sits back down to finish the movie.

When the final credits roll, the girls are still asleep so Katherine goes over to her daughter and gently rubs her arm, “Sweetheart, you fell asleep. Time to wake up!”

Nicole gradually opens her eyes, realizes the position she is in, and tries not to panic or startle Waverly awake. She makes small, slow movements to try and ease Waverly into waking up and to her relief, it works.

Waverly slowly moves off of Nicole’s shoulder and out of the blanket, “Sorry I fell asleep on you again during a movie.”

Nicole looks at her and smiles sweetly as she sets the blanket off to the side of the loveseat, “Nothing to be sorry about. I fell asleep this time too. Must have been all of that tryptophan.”

The brunette laughs as she gets up to start walking towards the door, “Looks like someone was paying attention during science class.”

Nicole follows her and looks at Waverly pointedly, “Well it is one of the few classes where I don’t have a distraction.” She winks at her and Waverly’s cheeks start to turn pink.

Waverly doesn’t respond to that comment and grabs her coat instead, “Could you thank your mom again for letting me come over today? It was so much better than having to be alone.”

“Of course! I’m also really glad we got to spend time with you today.”

Waverly nervously puts her hands in the pockets of her jacket and feels an envelope inside the right pocket. She pulls out the envelope and hands it to Nicole, “I completely forgot! The whole reason I came over in the first place was to give this to you!”

Nicole takes the envelope from Waverly and tilts her head to the side while looking at the shorter girl, “What is this?”

“Just a little Christmas gift. It’s nothing much, trust me, but I thought you might like it anyway.”

“But Waverly, I didn’t get you anything,” Nicole subconsciously looks down at the bracelet resting on Waverly’s wrist and quickly looks away again before she gets caught.

“It doesn’t matter. Besides, I think this gift is going to benefit the both of us anyway.”

Curiosity getting the best of her, Nicole turns over the envelope and goes to open it. Waverly’s hands are quickly on top of hers, halting any progress.

“Don’t open it yet! Wait until I leave and then you can. In case it sucks, I don’t want to see your reaction to it.” Waverly smiles at Nicole and then looks down and Nicole can tell it’s a nervous smile and not a genuine one.

Nicole takes her finger and places it under Waverly’s chin to tilt her head up and then quickly removes it, “I can guarantee you that it doesn’t suck but I will wait until you are gone to open it.”

“Thank you. I better get going so I can be over at the house when Wynonna and Gus get back. Merry Christmas, Nicole.”

“Merry Christmas, Waves.”

And with that, Waverly is out the door and walking back down the street to the Earp household. Nicole stands in the doorway watching Waverly walk back and makes sure she gets into her house before closing the door.

As Nicole turns around, she looks down at the envelope again and admires the perfect way her name is written on the front. Turning the envelope back over, she opens it to find a handwritten note:

_Nicole,_

_So this is probably going to seem really stupid but I was doing some thinking today after my sister and I exchanged our Christmas gifts. I thought back to that first day of school and all that chaos that ended up happening. Chaos brought on by your arrival. That first day when we walked home together after school, I had no idea why I agreed to that. I thought you were just some overconfident jock that was going to cause me all sorts of problems. Until I got to know you. I know it’s only been a few months but I know there is so much more to you than that. So thinking back to that first day, congratulations, you did win and here is your reward. My number is 406-109-0203. Merry Christmas, Nicole._

_-Waves_

To say that this was the last thing Nicole expected to be inside the envelope, would be an understatement. Worried this letter might self-destruct, Nicole runs into the living room and jumps over the coffee table to grab her phone. Typing furiously into a new contact, Nicole quickly inputs the information and saves it, breathing a sigh of relief as she finishes. She smiles to herself as she pulls up a new message.

_Nicole (3:32 pm): I love your gift :) it is not stupid_

_Waverly (3:34 pm): You sure? You could tell me if it is_

_Nicole (3:35 pm): I promise you it is not. Did you have a good time today? I hope my mom wasn’t too much._

_Waverly (3:38 pm): I had a great time...your mom is lovely. I’m just sorry we fell asleep during the movie...it’s one of my favorites._

_Nicole (3:40 pm): Ours too, which is why we watch it every year_

_Waverly (3:41 pm): It always makes me wonder...would things really be all that different if I wasn’t here?_

_Nicole (3:44 pm): I know I would be...different that is...I would be poorer if I never knew you Waverly Earp_

_Waverly (3:45 pm): Is Wynonna paying someone again to be my friend?_

_Nicole (3:47 pm): Funny...what I mean is my life is richer with you in it_

_Waverly (3:50 pm): You’re quite the charmer, aren’t you?_

_Nicole (3:51 pm): Tell me it’s not working and I will stop_

_Waverly (3:52 pm): …_

_Nicole (3:53 pm): Exactly :) I will let you enjoy Xmas with your family now but feel free to text me if you get bored_

_Waverly (3:55 pm): Will do! Enjoy the rest of your day and thanks again_

_Nicole (3:57 pm): Always <3 _

Nicole looks down at her phone as she sends that last text message and starts to panic. _What was I thinking?! Throwing the heart emoji at the end of that text...too much too fast Haught._ Her thoughts continue to spiral out of control and when she hears the familiar ding of a text message coming through, she doesn’t even want to look to see what it says but she pulls it up anyway.

_Waverly (4:00 pm): <3 <3 <3 _

Seeing the heart emoji at the end of Nicole’s last text makes Waverly feel a warmth in her chest that she only manages to have when said redhead is involved. Trying to give Nicole even just a fraction of what she is feeling right now, Waverly sends her a message including three heart emojis. After reading each other’s last texts, both girls set down their phones with a sigh and smiles on their faces, not knowing the other is just as smitten as they are.

* * *

Waverly wasn’t home long before Gus and Wynonna return from their other Christmas plans that day. Gus brings home some leftover food from Shorty’s and Waverly helps her put it in the fridge to reheat later.

“So kid, how was your day today?” Gus asks as she finishes putting the last of the food containers away.

Waverly jumps up on the counter next to Gus and Gus swats her leg, “Girl, get down from there!”

Waverly quickly slides back off the counter and looks over at her remorsefully, “Sorry Gus! But my day actually wasn’t too bad! I went to give Nicole something and her mom was nice enough to invite me to eat with them. I enjoyed hanging out with them quite a bit and it helped me pass the time too.”

“Well, remind me to make a little something for the Haught family that you can take over to thank them. And speaking of Nicole...is this the same Nicole Haught whose name I keep hearing more and more throughout this household?” Gus gives Waverly a knowing look.

“I mean, probably...” Waverly looks down and starts wringing her hands, “I was her peer mentor and then we found out we were neighbors and now I guess you could say we are friends.”

Gus raises her eyebrow at the girl, “And that’s all, huh?”

“Yep! Just friends!” Waverly’s voice betrays her as it gets an octave higher.

Gus just smiles and shakes her head slightly, “Well, you are gonna have to bring this _friend_ around here sometime. Have to make sure she is good enough for my Waverly.”

“Since when have you had to check on who I am friends with?”

“Are you back sassing me Waverly Earp?”

Waverly knows Gus is just messing with her but she stands up straight and gets all serious anyway, “No ma’am!”

“That’s right girl!” Gus gestures upstairs, “Now go get your sister so we can do our gift exchange.”

Waverly goes to retrieve Wynonna and a few moments later, the Earp girls are heading down the stairs to the living room where Gus is waiting with two wrapped boxes. Wynonna hands their small, perfectly wrapped box to Gus and the girls sit down in front of their respective gifts.

“Now, you girls are gonna go ahead and open your gifts first and you have to do it at the same time,” Gus nods her head at the sisters and they quickly lay waste to the wrapping paper and open the boxes to reveal something blue and black for Wynonna and purple and pink for Waverly.

“You got us dreamcatchers? These are beautiful, Gus!” Waverly exclaims as the two girls admire the gifts from their aunt.

“Well I figured you girls have been through so much in your lives already and if there was some other way I can protect you, I was damn sure gonna try it!”

Wynonna gasps, “Gus! Language!” She stares at Gus with wide eyes, “I never thought I was going to be able to say that to you!”

Gus sighs while looking at her two nieces, “There’s a time and place, Wynonna. But as I was saying, I am always going to do my best to protect you girls even when it seems like you are nothing but cursed. I want you to know that you two have never been a curse to me.”

Waverly and Gus look at each other with tears in their eyes and a shared understanding before Wynonna clears her throat and interrupts, “Before we get too emotional, Gus should probably open her gift and then we can resume this.”

Gus looks down at the gift resting in her hands and starts to carefully unwrap the small box. As she opens up the box, she reveals a necklace with two circles overlapping each other, one with Wynonna’s name on it and the other with Waverly’s.

As Gus gingerly takes the jewelry out of the box to get a better look at it, Wynonna breaks the silence, “Look Gus, we know you never asked for us and we’re sure it hasn’t been easy...”

Waverly cuts her sister off and continues, “And even though you can technically never be our parent, there is one thing you are with certainty...and that’s our home.”

Gus goes over and pulls the two girls into a tearful hug, “You girls are the best thing that has ever happened to me and you best not forget it.”

“Merry Christmas, Gus.” Wynonna and Waverly speak in unison.

“Merry Christmas, girls.”

The rest of the day went on and there were Christmas movies watched, leftover food eaten, and plenty of memories shared. When Waverly finally goes up to her room for the night, she is completely exhausted. The brunette changes into some pajamas and crawls into bed, thinking about the day’s events and a certain someone crosses her mind.

Looking at her phone for the first time in a couple of hours, Waverly notices she has a new text message and it’s from Nicole.

_Nicole (9:34 pm): I hope I’m not bothering you at all but I hope you had a great Christmas Waves. Thanks again for the gift...I love it ;) I also take the phrase with great power comes great responsibility very seriously so with that in mind, I’m going to say goodnight and sweet dreams <3 _

Smiling down at her phone, Waverly compiles a message of her own and then goes to bed.

_Waverly (10:22 pm): Christmas was amazing this year and you were one of the reasons why so thank you...and I will remember that Spiderman ;) night and sweet dreams Nic <3 _

Right before Nicole is about to fall asleep, she hears her phone receive a new text message. Rolling over and reaching for her phone on the bedside table, she sees it is a text from Waverly and opens it immediately.

Nicole lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as she reads the message and chuckles at Waverly calling her Spiderman. Then she sees that Waverly used a nickname for her. _I’m not usually one for nicknames...it’s Nicole or Haught...but when she says it...I think I can be ok with being called Nic...in fact, I kinda like it...wait until she actually says it out loud...then I’m really going to be a mess._

The redhead shakes her head at the ridiculousness of the thoughts she just had. _You are losing it over three letters...what has this girl done to you already?_ She types out her response and then tries to actually go to sleep.

_Nicole (10:24 pm): <3 <3 <3 _

Waverly gets a message back from Nicole and opens it right away. Seeing Nicole use three heart emojis as a response just like Waverly did earlier that day makes Waverly feel something in her chest that she can’t quite put her finger on. As she tries to get her heart rate back down to normal, she laughs at the absurdity of it all. _I can’t believe I am losing it over three little heart emojis...what am I going to do with this girl?_

Waverly falls asleep that night, dreamcatcher above her head, thinking about all the things she might want to do with Nicole and sleeps better than she has in a long time.

* * *

After Christmas break ended, the next couple of weeks went by in a flash and before they knew it, the last regular season basketball game had arrived and it was an important one. The Purgatory High girls’ basketball team was tied for first place in their conference with the team they were facing tonight, East High. The Blue Devils were going to have to try and win on the road, which is something that plagued them this entire season.

As Nicole is gathering her uniform and other equipment from the locker room, her nerves start to build. The last few girls trickle out and head for the bus and soon Nicole is left alone with her thoughts. She looks down at her phone and sees she only has ten minutes before the bus is leaving and she needs to be on it. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, she sighs deeply and sits down on the bench staring off into space.

As Waverly is waiting in line to get on the bus, duffle bag in hand, she sees Coach Lucado slowly starting to unravel as she asks where Nicole Haught is and no one is quite sure. Waverly slips out of line and heads to the locker room, almost positive that’s where she will find the star player. Sure enough, as Waverly quietly enters, she sees Nicole sitting on the bench clear across the room, her back turned to everything, staring at the wall.

The cheerleader cautiously approaches Nicole and lays her hand on her shoulder, “Hey...”

Nicole jumps and quickly looks over her shoulder to see who touched her, “Good God Waves, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Sorry! I just wanted to make sure you were ok! Lucado is about to have a meltdown because her MVP is missing.”

Nicole rolls her eyes, “That woman is gonna have a stroke if she keeps stressing out for no reason. She knows I will be on that bus in time.”

A short silence falls over the girls until Waverly speaks up again, “So do you mind telling me what you are doing hanging out in here by yourself?”

The redhead stares off into space again, “Just trying to clear my head and get rid of some of these nerves I have today.”

Waverly goes to sit down on the bench beside Nicole and places her hand on her leg, “You know you have nothing to be nervous about, right? I mean, you are Nicole Haught after all.”

That remark gets Nicole to crack a small smile and so Waverly counts that as a victory. She pulls out her phone to look at the time, “Looks like we have a couple more minutes before we absolutely have to head to the bus so if you need to do some focusing exercises, go for it!”

Nicole fully expects Waverly to get up and leave after that comment so when she doesn’t, Nicole finds it hard to focus on anything but her. Waverly’s hand is still on her leg and that, along with the feeling of Waverly’s side against hers, acts as a grounding force for the basketball player and a warmth starts to settle in her chest. Apparently, Nicole doesn’t need any focusing exercises, she just needs her.

A couple minutes go by and Waverly carefully gets up from the bench and Nicole feels the loss of contact instantly. Seeming to sense Nicole’s trepidation starting to come back, Waverly reaches her hand out towards Nicole, “Well c’mon now...we don’t want to be late!”

Nicole catches Waverly’s eyes but doesn’t make a move so Waverly looks down at her hand and then over at the sitting girl, shaking her hand and waiting until she takes hold of it. Nicole sighs and gives in, grabbing her duffle bag in one hand and Waverly’s hand in the other. A smirk slowly spreads across the brunette’s face as she pulls the taller girl out of the locker room and down the hallway.

As the two girls approach the final corner before the doors leading out to the bus, Waverly drops Nicole’s hand and Nicole does her best to not let her disappointment show. Waverly starts to walk towards the door but stops when she doesn’t feel Nicole’s presence behind her.

“Hey...what’s wrong?” Waverly turns around to see Nicole standing there with a sad look on her face. “Why do you look like someone just kicked your puppy?”

Nicole’s expression quickly turns from somber to upbeat, “Nothing! Everything’s fine!” _I definitely wasn’t reacting to the way it felt when your hand just left mine._

Waverly raises her eyebrow at Nicole and crosses her arms over her chest, “I don’t believe you.” When Nicole doesn’t respond, Waverly turns around and stomps towards the door.

“Waves! Wait! There is one thing!” Nicole rushes over until she is right in front of the shorter girl. Her voice is barely audible for what comes out of her mouth next, “I was just hoping you would sit with me on the way to the game.”

“Unfortunately you aren’t the only person to ask me that today...”

“Oh! Sorry, I should have figured you already had someone to sit with,” Nicole looks down at the ground in embarrassment.

Waverly puts herself in Nicole’s line of vision by crouching down and placing her head under Nicole’s and looks up at her as she is looking down, “You didn’t let me finish. You aren’t the only person to ask me today but you are the only person I am saying yes to.”

Waverly moves herself into a normal standing position and Nicole sports a big grin on her face as Lucado opens the doors in front of them. “Oh, thank God you’re here! C’mon you two, we have a game to get to!”

The girls board the bus with Lucado behind them, “Haught, what were you doing waiting until the last minute and giving me high blood pressure in the process?”

The two freshmen find one of the last available seats left and sit down as Nicole responds, “Sorry coach! I needed to do some focusing exercises, I lost track of time, and then Waverly found me and we headed this way.”

“Well, let’s not make it a habit shall we?”

“Yes ma’am!” Waverly and Nicole share a look as the bus starts to take off towards their destination.

“I’m sure Waverly helped Nicole ‘focus’ quite a bit just now...” The hushed comment makes its way up to Waverly and Nicole’s ears and Waverly quickly turns around to find Stephanie Jones looking back at her from a couple seats behind them.

“I should have known it was you! Problem, Stephanie?”

Stephanie smirks as she gets the exact response she wanted out of Waverly, “No problem with you personally, but a problem with what you guys are doing, yes.”

Waverly’s jaw clenches and eyebrows furrow as her anger starts building, “You have a problem with friendship now?” Nicole rests her hand on Waverly’s leg and rubs her thumb up and down slowly in an attempt to calm her down.

Stephanie snorts, “Please...you aren’t going with that story are you? I know even you don’t believe that.”

Waverly starts to move out of the seat and Nicole quickly uses the hand that’s still on Waverly’s leg to hold her down as she leans in to whisper to her, “Waves, please, she’s not worth it.”

Waverly turns, sees the pleading look on Nicole’s face, and decides to stay facing forward in her seat without acknowledging Stephanie again. Meanwhile, Nicole takes the opportunity to take her attention off of Waverly for the moment and looks back at Stephanie, who is wearing a smug look on her face.

When Stephanie looks up and makes eye contact with Nicole, that look is quickly wiped off her face, as Nicole is giving her a look that would kill her in an instant if there were such a thing. Nicole turns back around, her point made, and refocuses on the girl sitting next to her.

Nicole squeezes Waverly’s leg slightly with the hand that is still resting on it, “You ok? Waves, you’re shaking...”

Waverly looks down at Nicole’s hand, which causes her to promptly remove it. The loss of contact draws Waverly’s face up to Nicole’s and she is met with one of the most fiercely protective looks she has ever seen on the redhead and it was because of her. For her. Waverly starts to get an overwhelming feeling in her chest until she realizes that Nicole is looking at her expectantly.

“Sorry...what did you say?”

Nicole lets out a breathy laugh, “I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

Waverly sighs and give Nicole a small smile, “I will be fine. Don’t you worry about me.”

“I think I will always worry about you...” Nicole’s eyes widen as she realizes that was said out loud and not in her head and she quickly turns her head to look out the window and away from Waverly.

Waverly dances her fingers lightly on Nicole’s thigh to get her attention back towards her, “You must have to worry about getting caught in the rain don’t you?”

Nicole looks at Waverly with the most confused look on her face, “Huh?”

Waverly starts laughing to the point where her eyes crinkle, “Well I mean you are so sweet you would melt if you were stuck in the rain!”

Nicole shakes her head as the redness spreads across her face, “And you call me the charmer...”

“What can I say? I just choose my moments carefully!” Waverly shrugs her shoulders and then finishes with a wink, “But anyway, continue with your away game routine! Don’t let me sitting with you stop you.”

The basketball player’s eyebrows furrow in concentration, “Routine?”

“Yes, routine, something you always do. Sequence of actions that you repeat on a regular basis.”

Nicole playfully rolls her eyes at Waverly, “Thank you for the vocabulary lesson, but I do know what a routine is silly. I questioned it because I didn’t realize I had one.”

“Well I guess it might not be a routine per se, but I have noticed that on the bus ride to every other away game you listen to music. I didn’t want you to skip it just because you were sitting with me. It’s a big game tonight and I don’t want to mess with you being prepared.”

Nicole just smiles as Waverly rambles and reaches into her bag to grab her headphones and plugs them into her phone. She places one of the earbuds in her ear and reaches the other one out towards Waverly while smirking, “It’s no fun to do something alone when we could be doing it together.”

“Oh my God...do you hear yourself sometimes? I cannot.” Waverly grabs the earbud from Nicole and places it in her ear while trying to keep a smile off her face, “You are absolutely ridiculous.”

“Maybe...but then I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t, right?” Nicole’s grin lights up her face as she gives her phone over to Waverly. “You get to choose a song first.”

Waverly starts scrolling through Nicole’s songs, trying to find one she thinks is a perfect pump up song. This genre not being something quite in her wheelhouse, Waverly chooses one of the first songs she sees and knows and puts on _All I Do Is Win_ by DJ Khaled.

Nicole looks over at the brunette with an impressed look on her face, “To be honest, I was not expecting that.”

“Shouldn’t you be used to that with me by now?”

Nicole laughs, “Touché, Waverly Earp, touché.”

As the song plays, Nicole starts dancing in the bus seat and gets more and more ridiculous as the song goes on. Waverly can’t help but be captivated by the girl sitting next to her and she finds herself smiling so much that her face hurts. _I don’t understand how this girl can be so many things. Cocky, charming, sweet, infuriating, awkward, but also completely adorable right now._

Waverly is almost sad when the song ends and she hands the phone back to its owner, “Guess it’s your turn to choose now.”

The two girls spend the next thirty minutes trading the phone back and forth choosing songs and sitting as close together as possible. When they arrive at the other school, both girls take out the earbuds and Waverly hands hers back to Nicole.

Nicole grabs the earbud from Waverly and places her headphones back in her bag, “Hey, thanks again for sitting with me tonight. You really helped get my mind off the game and I can’t thank you enough.”

The freshmen get up and start walking towards the bus door as Waverly talks over her shoulder, “No problem at all! That’s what friends do, right?”

“Right... _friends_ ” Nicole pauses as the girls step off the bus, thoughts swirling inside her head. “Guess I will see you inside?”

“I will be the one wearing a cheerleading uniform!”

Nicole gives Waverly a small smile and turns to join her teammates heading towards the locker room, realizing every time it continues to get harder and harder to walk away from Waverly.

* * *

Starting right from tipoff, Nicole knew this was going to be a close, physical game. Neither team wanted to lose; it was the conference championship on the line, after all. East High was focusing a lot of attention on the freshman standout from the very beginning of the game, trying to frustrate Nicole and somewhat succeeding. The first half of the game had so many lead changes, Nicole lost count and at halftime, it was a tied game.

After getting the halftime speech from Coach Lucado, Nicole runs out with the rest of the team and sets her water bottle down by the bench before turning to go warm up again. After getting a few warm up shots in, Nicole can’t help but notice Waverly hasn’t taken her eyes off her since she came back out of the locker room. The redhead looks over at the cheerleader and Waverly motions for Nicole to come over.

Waverly steps aside from the other cheerleaders as Nicole jogs over to her, “Hey, what’s up?”

Waverly grabs Nicole’s upper arm and pulls her in close, trying not to be distracted by the muscles or the uniform, “I have been observing the other team and have some tips for you.”

Nicole laughs and causes Waverly to get slightly defensive, “What? Just because I’m a cheerleader doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on out there.”

“Oh my God, no! That’s not why I was laughing! It was just the way you worded it...I don’t doubt for a minute that you have some useful information. Let’s hear it!”

Waverly relaxes and gets serious again, whispering her findings to Nicole, “Ok, so they are being really aggressive guarding you. To the point where sometimes they are bringing in help to double team you. So if you can either get rid of the ball quick or give them a good fake and then make a move, I think that would work out better.”

“Alright awesome, got it. What else you got?” Nicole smiles as she looks at the awe-inspiring girl standing here talking basketball with her.

“Umm...number twenty-two, their leading scorer right now, really likes the left side of the floor so force her to go right. Hopefully will cause her some problems.”

“Haught!” Coach Lucado yells from over on the sidelines where the team is huddled up and the second half is almost ready to begin.

Nicole looks back over at Waverly before running towards the bench, “Thanks, Waves.”

“Don’t thank me until the game is over and we win. You got this, Nicole.”

The second half gets underway and the aggressiveness and physicality presented in the first half show no signs of slowing down. _I am going to find so many new bruises tomorrow it’s not even funny_ Nicole thinks as she is running down the court after a particularly hard play on offense.

The game continues on, going back and forth, and the energy in the gymnasium is almost palpable. With under thirty seconds left in the game, Purgatory High finds themselves down two points, but in possession of the ball. Waverly is as close to the court as physically possible without interfering, as she watches their team inbound the ball with bated breath.

Purgatory has the ball on their side of the court, passing it around, trying to find someone open and preferably Nicole. Having no luck getting the ball inside to Nicole, Waverly watches on nervously as the team is running out of time. With ten seconds to go, almost by sheer luck alone, Nicole manages to get open off a screen and gets the ball in her hands.

Like Waverly had observed earlier, the girl guarding Nicole is on her immediately and Nicole sees another coming straight at her for the double team. Remembering what Waverly said, Nicole fakes the pass to her teammate to get the other defender to go back to her own girl, leaving her one-on-one with her defender.

Nicole makes a well executed post move with her defender all over her and as she is going up for the shot, she feels hard contact with her opponent. Putting all her concentration into making the shot, Nicole lays the shot off the glass and goes sliding across the floor. From her position on the ground, the redhead sees the shot go in the basket and breathes a sigh of relief as the ref blows the whistle for a foul on top of it.

Nicole lays on the ground for a moment, slow to get up, trying to get her battered body to cooperate and get up off the floor. The cheers from Nicole making the game tying shot are ringing in her ears as she looks up at the scoreboard to see there is just over two seconds left in the game. Essentially, if she can make this free throw, then Purgatory wins.

As Nicole walks up to the free throw line, she takes one last look towards the cheerleaders and spots Waverly. Waverly makes eye contact with her and mouths, _You got this._ The girls line up for the free throw and the ref passes her the ball. Nicole takes a deep breath, lines up her body, takes a couple of dribbles, sets herself, and releases her shot, just like she has hundreds of times.

The shot goes through, nothing but net, and the cheers erupt from the crowd once again. Scrambling to find the girls they need to defend still with a little over two seconds left in the game, East High quickly inbounds the ball and gets it to half court before releasing a shot as time expires. The half court heave is no good and Purgatory wins.

Waverly watches on as Nicole’s teammates all clobber her on the court, celebrating their victory. Eventually, they break apart, shake the other team’s hands, and head into the locker room to shower before the boys’ game.

Waverly continues to watch the locker room to see a certain redhead come out but nothing yet. She watches as every single other girl exits and can’t imagine that Nicole would take this long to shower and get ready.

Looking up at the scoreboard and realizing she has just enough time before the boys’ game starts, Waverly gets Rosita’s attention, “Hey Rosita, I’ve gotta go check on something quick and I will be right back!” She doesn’t really wait for an answer and heads off towards the locker room, on a mission.

As Waverly walks in, she finds Nicole in a similar position to earlier that night, sitting on the bench, staring off into space. “Hey there MVP!” the cheerleader calls out from across the room.

Nicole looks over her shoulder and smiles slightly at the girl, “Hey yourself.”

Waverly saunters over to the bench and sits down beside Nicole, “You know, I didn’t have you pegged as the diva type, who after making the game winning shot, creates a scene by taking forever to get ready and makes a grand entrance back into the gym by themselves.”

Nicole realizes that Waverly is joking with her but takes a more serious approach with her response, “No, I just always wait...surely you have noticed I’m always the last one out...”

A confused look washes over Waverly’s face, “Why is that?”

Nicole takes a deep breath and looks down at her feet, “I just always wait until everyone else has showered before I have. It’s easier that way.”

It takes a moment, but when realization hits, Waverly jumps up off the bench, fists clenched. “You have got to be kidding me?! Has someone said something negative about you liking girls? Was it Stephanie? I’m gonna kill her...”

Waverly is getting angrier by the second and before she can take off on her rampage, Nicole grabs her gently by the wrist and pulls her back down towards the bench, “Hey Cujo, simmer down and come here.”

The brunette sits back down and looks over at Nicole, “I’m gonna let you comparing me to a dog slide just this once.” Waverly gives her a slight smile, “Are you really ok though? You should be celebrating your big victory.”

“I am good, promise. And I have celebrated enough, don’t worry.”

Nicole gathers her things up and places them back in her duffle bag, “You should probably get back out there. The boys’ game has to be close to starting.”

“Fine, but you need one more celebration,” Waverly quickly stands up from the bench and without thinking, wraps her arms around Nicole for a hug. After a moment to comprehend what just happened, Nicole immediately wraps her arms around the shorter girl in return.

Their bodies fitting together like perfect puzzle pieces, Nicole rests her head on top of Waverly’s and relishes in the way it feels to hold her right now. Both girls’ tension seems to melt away in each other’s arms and neither one says anything until Waverly is pulling out of the embrace.

“I just wanted to come make sure you realized how amazing you were out there tonight. You are just an amazing person, don’t ever forget that.”

Nicole smiles nervously, “I have a feeling as long as I’m around you, I won’t.”

Redness starts to creep up Waverly’s face, “Well, I should probably get back out there now. You should too! Don’t want to miss the boys play!”

“If it has anything to do with boys, I don’t think I will miss out on too much.” Nicole winks at Waverly and chuckles as the cheerleader is almost at the door.

Waverly laughs and stops before she walks out of the locker room, “Hey...sit with me on the way back to Purgatory?”

“I can’t think of anything that would make me happier, Waves.”

* * *

Wynonna's Shadow Box

Waverly's Rainbow Canvas

Wynonna's Dreamcatcher

Waverly's Dreamcatcher

Gus' Necklace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, how did we do?! Did we need more tissues than last chapter? Did your hearts burst from the cuteness? Haha
> 
> If you want to discuss the chapter or just talk through the holidays, you can hit me up on here or Twitter @flugge34
> 
> Next chapter is honestly probably my favorite chapter of freshman year and is jam packed with so much...next week join me for WayHaught reading Romeo and Juliet in English class! We have heavy emotions, multiple heart-to-hearts, and multiple altercations between lots of different characters. Prepare next week for lots of emotions and lots of angst...
> 
> Until next week! <3


	5. Freshman Year- Romeo and Juliet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tension. Passion. Conflict. Fervor. Tragedy. Ready yourselves as the Purgatory gang tackles the classic love story of Romeo and Juliet with a modern twist. This chapter we get multiple scenes from Romeo and Juliet, confused feelings, honest and not so honest conversations, verbal and physical altercations, and enough switches from cute to angsty moments to give you whiplash. Ready your hearts and your minds to see if our girls will share a similar fate to these star crossed lovers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back Earpers!!!
> 
> I hope you guys had a great holidays with your family and friends and with the new year a couple days away, I wish you all nothing but amazing things for 2019!
> 
> This chapter guys.......this chapter is the one that I am most proud of so far. You guys are really in for a good one and I am really not joking when I say this chapter is going to pull your emotions in so many different directions.
> 
> Below is a link to translate for those of us who are challenged when it comes to reading Shakespeare (this does include me lol) You will need to look at:  
> -Act One, Scene Five  
> -Act Two, Scene Two  
> -Act Five, Scene Three  
> https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/romeojuliet/
> 
> ***WARNING***
> 
> There is bullying and homophobic language that does come up in this chapter. If you are not comfortable with or do not wish to read such scenes, please skip the following sections:
> 
> -Scene after Romeo/Juliet balcony scene including Nicole, Waverly, Stephanie, and Chrissy (although there is a part in here that makes up for the homophobic language, I promise)
> 
> -Scene where Champ corners Nicole at her locker before the Romeo/Juliet death scene
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Can't wait to see what you guys think! We are getting close to the end of freshman year!!!
> 
> Without further ado, here is Chapter Five! Much love Earpers! <3

Now that both basketball and cheerleading have ended, things quieted down for the moment at Purgatory High. The weather was still cold so there weren’t many things to do and you could feel the restless energy building throughout the school more and more each day. Being no stranger to this feeling, Waverly spots the cause of her restlessness at their locker a few feet down.

Feeling like someone is watching her, Nicole looks over in Waverly’s direction and the two girls make brief eye contact before turning back to their lockers, both faces with matching pink hues. Nicole grabs the rest of her things and walks by Waverly towards English class, smiling the entire way. After Nicole passes, Waverly watches her walk away until she is almost out of sight.

“Hey there creeper!” Waverly jumps as Chrissy comes up behind her out of nowhere and invades her personal space.

Waverly turns around and slaps Chrissy on the arm, “What is wrong with you?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Chrissy crosses her arms and looks at her best friend, “Girl, if your heart is racing, you and I both know it ain’t cause of me.”

“Well it’s not because of Nicole either!”

“No one said anything about it being Nicole...”

Waverly returns her attention back to her locker, “No, but you were going to and she is just a friend.”

“Waverly, do you stare at all your friends like that when they walk away? Because if so, I’m slightly concerned,” Chrissy laughs as Waverly over examines the contents of her locker and avoids all eye contact.

The brunette suddenly shuts her locker door and turns to Chrissy, “Can we just drop this? We are gonna be late to class.”

Waverly starts walking off towards class so Chrissy throws her hands up in one last display of exasperation and follows her to Ms. Lucado’s classroom.

The two girls find their usual seats on the opposite side of the room from Nicole, take out their pens and notebooks, and wait for class to start. When Waverly looks up at the front of the classroom and sees Ms. Lucado, she gets slightly concerned about where today’s class is going to go. _I don’t know if I have ever seen Lucado this excited for class to start...it is kind of...unnerving?_

The bell rings and Lucado wastes no time jumping right in, “Good morning class! I am very excited to introduce our next unit that will take us most of the way through this semester: Romeo and Juliet!”

A few groans are heard throughout the classroom but it doesn’t seem to phase Lucado as she continues, “Romeo and Juliet is a classic and we are going to read the entire play, have activities and assignments along the way, and then a final project where you either perform a scene or rewrite a scene imagining it in a different time period.”

Lucado grabs a stack of papers from her desk and starts to hand them out, “We will decide who is going to read what roles at the end of class today, but first we are going to do an activity that will help us understand some of the words and the way this play is written.”

The class works away at the activity and soon there are only fifteen minutes left of class so Lucado stops them and starts talking about the roles. “When volunteering for these reading roles, think about how comfortable you are reading out loud and the commitment it is going to take for whatever role you decide. This can go smoothly or not at all.”

“I’m going to start with the two big roles. Is there anyone that would like to volunteer to read Juliet?” Being completely confident in her reading level, Waverly raises her hand right away.

Seeing no other hands go up, Lucado addresses Waverly, “I am positive you can handle being our Juliet this semester Waverly, so it’s all yours.”

Waverly smiles to herself as Lucado continues, “Alright, so now for Romeo. Who would like to read that part?”

All of the guys are absolutely silent and no one makes any effort to volunteer. After a minute or so of silence, Chrissy gets a brilliant idea and speaks up, “I think Nicole should do it!”

Champ laughs out loud as he turns towards Chrissy, “She can’t do it! She’s a girl and last time I checked, Romeo was not.”

Chrissy gets a determined look on her face and stares Champ down, “Who cares? I would much rather hear Nicole read it than have to suffer through listening to your third grade level brain try to read it out loud.”

“Alright, alright! This is as far as this conversation goes you two,” Lucado pauses as she contemplates Chrissy’s idea. “I do like the modern twist this would put on a classic story. But I also don’t want someone else to volunteer another person.”

Ms. Lucado turns to Nicole, “Would you be interested in reading the part of Romeo? You and Waverly are two of the strongest readers in this class and I think you both are more than capable of leading us through this play, but only if you want to.”

Nicole glances over at Waverly and Chrissy, the former having an unreadable expression on her face, and the latter showing nothing but encouragement. The redhead focuses back on Lucado, “Umm...I mean as long as everyone is ok with it, I would be happy to be Romeo.”

“Ok, it is settled then! Waverly will be our Juliet and Nicole will be our Romeo. Now for the rest of the roles...” Lucado continues taking volunteers and assigning characters to the rest of the class as Nicole tries to calm herself after the decision she just made.

_Oh my god, why did I do that? Did Waverly even want me to do that? Would she rather have had someone else do it? A guy do it?_ Nicole forces herself to stay looking down at her notes and to not look in Waverly’s direction. _I don’t want to see the dissatisfaction on her face right now._

Waverly hasn’t moved her eyes from Nicole since she agreed to be Romeo, hoping she would look back at her, but she isn’t. _She probably felt like she needed to do it since Chrissy basically volunteered her. She wouldn’t have thought to be my Romeo--the class Romeo--otherwise._

Waverly continues to keep her eye on Nicole, waiting for her to look at her, but she doesn’t. By the time the bell rings for the end of class, Waverly is more frustrated than she has been in a long time and she knows she needs to try and talk to Nicole after class. The brunette is not prepared for how quickly Nicole hightails it out of class though, and by the time she gets out the door, Nicole is nowhere to be seen.

“Damn it! Where’d she go?!” Waverly deeply exhales and hangs her head in resignation.

“Probably to go overthink and freak out about agreeing to that in peace,” Chrissy laughs as she comes up behind Waverly.

Waverly quickly whirls around and points her finger at Chrissy, “You! This is all your fault right now!”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me! Why’d you have to go and volunteer her for that?”

Chrissy stands up straighter while wearing a steely expression, “First of all, she never had to agree. And second of all, I’m doing you guys a favor and you should be thanking me.”

Waverly clenches her jaw, “Thanking you? Seriously? I don’t need you to help out with Nicole.”

“You sure about that?” Chrissy snorts as she shakes her head in disbelief.

Waverly can feel her anger rising and she really doesn’t want to take it out on her best friend. She takes a deep breath and puts her hand up in front of her, “You know what? I can’t do this right now. We’re gonna be late for class.”

Waverly slides past Chrissy and leaves her standing there alone as she pulls out her phone on the way to her next class.

_Waverly (9:15 am): Hey...can we talk after school today?_

_Nicole (9:17 am): Sure...meet me at the bench outside the principal’s office?_

_Waverly (9:18 am): Sounds good :)_

Waverly lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and places her phone back in her pocket as she continues to walk down the hall. _This day can’t get over soon enough._

* * *

There are days Nicole loves having study hall as the last period of the day and there are days she absolutely hates it. Today falls under the latter of those feelings. The only thing she has been able to think about has been English class and the conversation that is about to happen after school. Waverly’s text message was fairly vague this morning, giving Nicole ample time to speculate and naturally she is imagining this conversation going the worst case scenario route.

_I made a mistake. There’s no way she is happy with me right now. She’s gonna tell me that I need to give up the part. I don’t know why I thought accepting the part was the right thing to do in the first place. This decision could mess up so many things with her. What was I thinking?_

Nicole is staring off into space with a blank expression on her face, desperately trying to hold it together, when the bell rings for the end of the day and startles her out of her head. She quickly gets her things together and rushes out of the room. Once she’s out the door, Nicole takes in a deep breath, praying the feeling of suffocation will go away long enough to get through this conversation with Waverly.

Nicole makes her way to her locker, puts her stuff in her backpack, grabs her coat and beanie, and heads outside to the bench where she’s supposed to meet Waverly. As she walks out the door to see the bench empty, she’s not sure if she should be feeling relief or more anxiety.

Nicole goes to sit on the bench and rests her head in her hands, while her mind goes a mile a minute trying to calculate all the possible outcomes of this conversation. As she waits, her mind goes to the cruelest place imaginable and leaves her with one thought as she awaits the other girl’s arrival: _I guess you can’t lose something you never had._

* * *

Waverly’s not sure she has heard a sweeter sound than when the final bell rings. Not getting to see Nicole much today after what happened in English has been slowly killing her and she practically runs to her locker to put her books away. In her haste, Waverly leaves her coat behind, focused on only one thing, and heads to meet Nicole outside the principal’s office.

_I need to apologize for what Chrissy did. That wasn’t fair to Nicole at all. To make her feel like she had no other choice. Nicole always puts other people first and doesn’t think about herself when she makes decisions. She needs to know that she doesn’t have to do this for me._

As Waverly opens the doors, she is ambushed by the frigid February air and realizes that in her rush, she did not grab her coat. _Smart move Waverly. You’re off to a great start._ Crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep her warmth in, Waverly looks over at Nicole who is already waiting for her on the bench.

The redhead is seemingly unaware of the other girl being outside, so Waverly gets an unabashed look at her as she approaches. The way Nicole is staring off into space with a pensive look on her face is enough to make Waverly’s heart clench in her chest. _The last thing I wanted to do was make you feel conflicted about all this._

Waverly cautiously makes her way towards Nicole and speaks quietly in an attempt to not startle her, “Hey...”

Feeling Waverly’s presence ever since she walked out the doors, Nicole’s heart starts beating faster as she hears Waverly get closer and the words come out of her mouth. Not able to bring herself to look in the brunette’s direction, she gives her a simple reply back, “Hey.”

Waverly frowns at the lack of eye contact as she slides next to Nicole on the bench. The two girls sit in silence for what seems like an eternity, still not looking at each other, until Waverly decides to speak up.

“Nicole, I’m sorry.”

Nicole’s eyebrows furrow in confusion as she tries to process why Waverly would be apologizing to her, “I think I should be the one apologizing to you.”

Waverly lets out a small laugh, “Umm...ok now you are gonna have to explain that one to me because I’m pretty sure it was my best friend that messed up English class today, not you.”

_Messed up. She said messed up. I knew it._ Nicole mulls those words over and over again in her head without responding. She looks down at her hands and twirls the ring on her finger. Anything that can keep her from addressing Waverly.

The silence from Nicole is unnerving and Waverly is getting more nervous by the minute. _This girl is never speechless. She always has something to say. What’s going on in that brain of hers?_

Waverly notices Nicole’s nervous habit manifesting and lays her hands on top of Nicole’s to get her to stop, “Hey...would you please look at me? You haven’t looked in my direction this whole time.”

The shock of Waverly’s hands on hers jolts Nicole out of her trance and Waverly quickly removes her hands as brown eyes finally meet hazel for the first time this afternoon.

“Waves, your hands are freezing!” Nicole takes a moment to take all of Waverly in and realizes she is not in any condition to be outside right now. “And where is your coat?!”

Waverly breaks their shared eye contact and looks down sheepishly, “I guess I was in such a hurry to see you that I just forgot.”

Nicole quickly takes off her coat and thrusts it at Waverly, “Put this on right now then.”

Waverly shakes her head and pushes the coat back towards Nicole, “I’m not going to make you suffer for my mistake. I’m not wearing your coat.”

“Waverly Earp, if you do not take this coat right now, so help me God, I’m gonna throw you in that snowbank over there and there will be no one to stop me.”

Both girls lock eyes again with such ferocity and stubbornness, neither one wanting to give in to the other. A gust of wind blows through to remind Waverly of just how cold she is and she reluctantly snatches the coat out of Nicole’s hands.

“I’m only taking this because you have a sweatshirt on and not because you won the staredown,” Waverly clarifies as she wraps the coat around her and brings it up tightly around her neck. She hums with contentment as she feels the residual warmth from the other girl and notices the faint smell of vanilla dipped donuts. _My favorite._

“Yeah sure, Waverly, whatever you say...” Nicole slightly smirks as Waverly shoves her arm in retaliation.

The girls sit in a short, comfortable silence before Waverly once again breaks it, “So...are you gonna explain to me now why you were trying to apologize to me?”

Nicole looks at Waverly, sitting next to her wearing her coat, and Nicole would be lying if she said she wouldn’t answer anything Waverly asked, especially when she’s looking at her like that.

Nicole takes a deep breath and turns away from Waverly, “Because I overstepped. I said yes to something I had no business saying yes to. You shouldn’t be stuck with me as your Romeo.”

Waverly takes a fallen strand of Nicole’s hair and tucks it back inside her beanie, her hand lingering on her face for a short moment. “Is being stuck with you supposed to be a bad thing?”

“Your Romeo should have been one of the guys.”

“What if I don’t want one of the guys?”

Nicole quickly turns to face Waverly as she realizes what she just said, “I--I mean I don’t want any of the guys to be Romeo. I want you.”

Nicole can’t help the way her heartbeat quickens at that last phrase. _What a choice of words Waverly. Thanks for that._ “Then what were you apologizing for earlier?”

“For Chrissy’s behavior. For making you feel like you didn’t have a choice. For probably making things harder for you.” Waverly looks down at the ground to avoid Nicole’s gaze.

“Hey Waves,” Nicole places her hand on Waverly’s leg to bring her attention back to her. “First of all, you absolutely do not have to apologize for what other people do. Second of all, I could have said no but I chose not to. And lastly, I think I do a pretty good job of that all on my own.”

A smile breaks across Nicole’s face as Waverly rolls her eyes, “That all may be true but it still doesn’t stop me from feeling bad about the whole thing.”

“Ok...well we are both satisfied with the outcome correct?” Waverly nods her head yes as Nicole continues, “Then there’s nothing to feel bad about, ok?”

“Ok...you’re positive you still wanna be my Romeo?” Waverly blushes as she realizes she added in the word ‘my’ to her question.

Nicole softly chuckles in response and then sports a huge grin on her face, “As long as you are still gonna be my Juliet...”

Waverly nods her head at Nicole again, “Looks like we are both stuck with each other then huh?”

“Guess so!” Nicole jumps up off the bench and holds her hand out towards Waverly, “Now let’s get you back inside so we can get warmed up and get your stuff.”

Waverly grabs Nicole’s hand and the taller girl helps her up from the bench. The two walk back into the school and to the freshmen locker area so Waverly can collect her things.

When Nicole stands there watching Waverly instead of leaving, Waverly decides to give her a hard time. “Are you getting into character already?”

A look of confusion washes over Nicole’s face, “I’m sorry I’m not following.”

The brunette smiles widely and looks over at Nicole, “Well you are standing there watching me and everyone knows that Romeo was kind of a stalker...”

Nicole slightly blushes but quickly regains her composure as she steps into Waverly’s personal space and runs her hand across the back of her shoulders, “First of all, you wish. Second of all, you’re still wearing my coat.”

All of a sudden, Waverly starts feeling too warm and is happy to shed the extra layer, “Oh, right! Sorry, I was kind of distracted by you.”

The redhead smirks as she takes the coat from Waverly and turns to walk away, “Well in that case, I’m glad to see you’re getting in character as well. See you tomorrow, Waves!”

Nicole continues to walk away and leaves Waverly standing there shaking her head. _What did I get myself into this semester?_

* * *

The first week of _Romeo and Juliet_ was fairly uneventful but today is the day it’s all going to change because the class is reading when Romeo and Juliet first meet. Waverly stands outside her locker, nervous to head to class, knowing what awaits her.

Chrissy sees her best friend standing like a statue, afraid to move, and walks up by her side. “Hey, everything alright?”

Waverly still doesn’t move or look in her direction, “Yeah...I’m just a little nervous is all.”

Chrissy rests her hand on Waverly’s shoulder, “I know and I’m sorry...and I know we talked about our disagreement from last week but I’m still sorry about that too.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. I know you were just trying to help.”

“Well then let me help here too. There’s no reason to be nervous, Waverly. It is Nicole we are talking about here and she’s not going to let you fall.”

Waverly takes a deep breath and turns to her friend, “It’s not Nicole I’m nervous about, Chris. It’s everyone else.”

“Well it’s everyone else that should be nervous right now then because if even one person tries to say something, they are gonna have to answer to me.”

A small smile breaks across both girls’ faces as they acknowledge the truth behind that statement. Waverly bumps her shoulder into Chrissy’s, “I don’t know what I did to deserve a best friend like you.”

“I ask myself that every day too. You ready to head to class now before we are late?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The two girls walk towards English class and as they walk in and head towards their seats, Waverly sees a pale Nicole playing with the ring on her finger. Looking at the time and realizing she doesn’t have enough to go over there and talk to Nicole before class starts, she pulls out her phone.

_Waverly (8:28 am): Hey...don’t be nervous. We are going to kill it together as Romeo and Juliet ;)_

Nicole looks over at Waverly instead of at her phone, not realizing Waverly has texted her. Waverly smiles when their eyes meet and shakes her phone at the other girl. Nicole looks slightly confused but then realizes what Waverly is trying to say and goes to look at her phone.

After reading the text message, Nicole looks back in the brunette’s direction with an amused look on her face. Waverly shrugs her shoulders and smiles wider as Nicole returns her attention back to her phone.

_Nicole (8:29 am): That was terrible lol but appreciated so thanks :)_

The bell rings and Ms. Lucado addresses the class, “Today we are finally at the first meeting of Romeo and Juliet! We are just going to jump right in so if you guys would open up to Act One, Scene Five, we will get started!”

A few minutes pass as the fifth scene gets started and Nicole and Waverly share a few looks as they follow along, waiting for the famous first meeting between their characters. Before they know it, it’s go time and Nicole starts off the scene.

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_(taking Juliet’s hand)_

_If I profane with my unworthiest hand_

_This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:_

_My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand_

_To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,_

_Which mannerly devotion shows in this,_

_For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,_

_And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?_

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do._

_They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take._

_(Kisses her)_

_Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Then have my lips the sin that they have took._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!_

_Give me my sin again._

_(They kiss again)_

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_You kiss by th' book._

_Chrissy/Nurse:_

_Madam, your mother craves a word with you._

_(Juliet moves away)_

“Ok, let’s stop there for a moment and discuss that first meeting between the two.” Lucado starts the conversation by talking about the events that led up to their meeting and then the actual meeting itself.

After a lively discussion, the bell rings and the freshmen all pack up their things and exit the classroom. Nicole makes sure to stop by Waverly’s locker before heading to her next class.

“That was quite the first meeting, huh?” The redhead comes up beside Waverly with a huge smirk on her face.

Waverly turns to Nicole and rolls her eyes, “Well it tops our first meeting, that’s for sure.”

Nicole brings her hand up to her heart, “Ouch...you wound me. I’m almost positive you would not have liked it if I tried to kiss you then.”

Waverly feels a slight blush coming across her cheeks but quickly gets it under control, “Guess we will never know now will we? Have a good day, Nicole.”

Waverly shuts her locker and heads off to her next class with a smug look on her face, leaving Nicole standing in her wake with her mouth agape.

“Might wanna get yourself under control there Romeo. This is just the beginning.” Chrissy laughs as she walks past.

_I sure hope so, Chrissy...I sure hope so…_ Nicole regains her composure and heads to her next class feeling a lot better than she did before English.

* * *

Another week of school passes and it’s the day that Nicole has both been waiting for and hoping it never comes. In today’s English class they are going to bring the balcony scene to life. Nicole sits on the edge of her bed with her eyes closed, mentally preparing for what today will bring.

Not hearing much movement upstairs, Katherine quietly makes her way to Nicole’s doorway and observes her current condition. Seeing no signs of acknowledgement, she makes her way into the room and sits down carefully next to her daughter.

“Hey sweetie...everything alright?”

Nicole exhales deeply, “Yes and no. I’m concerned about English class today.”

Katherine turns her body towards Nicole, “What scene is happening today?”

Nicole opens her eyes but keeps her focus forward, “The balcony scene. And I know I shouldn’t be worried but what if this complicates things between us?”

“Honey, aren’t things already kinda complicated between you two?”

A small smile flashes across the younger Haught’s face but is gone just as quickly as it appeared. “I mean you’re not wrong...but what if people make it worse?”

“Do you trust Waverly?”

Not expecting that question, Nicole swiftly brings her attention to her mother, “I’m not worried about Waverly.”

“That’s not what I asked...do you trust Waverly?”

“I don’t know her that well yet so this might not make sense, but I do.”

Katherine smiles as she tucks some of Nicole’s hair behind her ear, “Time has no bearing on a person’s character sweetheart.”

Nicole’s vision blurs as she gets tears in her eyes, “I’m scared, Mom.”

Katherine pulls her daughter in for a hug, “I know you are and that’s ok. If other people have a problem, that’s on them but don’t discount Waverly just yet.”

“You always seem to know what to say...” Nicole pulls away from her mother’s embrace and wipes the tears from her eyes.

The older redhead laughs, “Thank God you don’t remember the advice I gave you when you were younger then. I wasn’t always this full of wisdom.”

Nicole smiles as she looks at her mom, “Maybe not, but you always knew what I needed to hear and that was enough.”

“I love you so much, Nic. I hope you know that.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

Katherine stands up and reaches her hand out towards Nicole, “You ready to go get this day started?”

Nicole grabs her mom’s hand and she pulls her up from the bed, “About as ready as I’m gonna be!”

The two women gather their things and head outside to the car. While the conversation with her mom helped, Nicole still can’t help but feel a nervousness deep in her gut. One that she knows won’t go away until after class is over, if even then.

The drive to school is a quiet but comfortable one. Katherine pulls into the staff parking lot and turns off the vehicle. As the Haught women sit in the car, unmoving, Katherine’s heart continues to break with how much trepidation is radiating off her daughter.

“We are here a little early. Take as much time as you need before heading in. I will be here.”

“Thanks, Mom. I think I need to just go in though. Sitting here in silence isn’t really helping.”

The duo gather their things and make their way up the sidewalk towards the entrance of the school. Upon reaching the doors, Katherine stops and places her hand on Nicole’s shoulder.

“Before you walk in, I just wanted to make sure you know how proud I am of you. Every day, the choices you make...they aren’t easy ones and you just make me so damn proud, Nicole.”

Katherine leans in and places a kiss on Nicole’s temple and that gesture, along with those words, threaten the waterworks to spill out again. Nicole exhales deeply and puts a little space between herself and her mother.

“Jesus, please don’t make me cry again, especially when we are right outside the school building. I have a reputation to uphold, remember?”

Katherine rolls her eyes as a smirk spreads out across her face, “Silly me, how could I forget? God forbid someone sees that you have feelings right?”

“I’m glad you understand,” Nicole reaches for the door and steps inside while her mother follows right behind.

Seemingly done with the conversation, Nicole continues walking towards the freshmen locker area as Katherine calls out after her. “Everything’s gonna be alright! Promise!”

Nicole doesn’t turn around but puts her hand up in acknowledgement as she continues walking. She heads to her locker and puts her stuff away. Noticing she has some time to spare, she walks down to the library before class.

Quickly losing track of time, Nicole hears the bell ring to signal the students to head to their first class. She swiftly gets her things together and races off towards English class. _I’m so gonna be late! Fantastic…_

* * *

Waverly anxiously sits at her desk as the minutes count down before English class starts, consistently going back and forth between looking at the time and checking her phone for any missed messages. The fact that Nicole is still not in class makes Waverly more nervous than she already was today.

Chrissy decides she has seen enough and gets Waverly’s attention, “Hey...she’s gonna be here, don’t worry.”

Waverly manages to turn around and give her attention to Chrissy, “But what if she’s not?”

Chrissy can see the fear and dejection coming to the forefront from the recesses of Waverly’s eyes and does her best to calm them, “She’s never let you down before. Today will be no different.”

Both girls are startled by a sudden movement as Champ slides into the desk next to them, “Don’t worry, I can be your Romeo.”

Chrissy makes a barfing gesture accompanied with an unsettlingly accurate noise, “Please don’t make my breakfast come back up. Also, you wouldn’t be able to handle the role because Nicole’s shoes are too big to fill.”

“Trust me, I’m plenty big to--”

“And yep! My breakfast is literally like right there...” Chrissy points to the top of her neck and continues, “Please go away before it ends up all over you.”

Just as Chrissy finishes, Nicole rushes into the classroom with a minute to spare. As Nicole makes her way over to her desk, Chrissy turns to Champ, “Well would you look at that? Seems like your services won’t be needed Champ. Damn...buh bye now!”

Champ huffs and gets up to head back over to his original seat. The bell rings and Waverly turns in her seat and mouths ‘thank you’ to her best friend who smiles and nods in return.

“Alright class! Today is one of the most famous scenes of the entire play and so I thought we would do something a little more fun with it.”

Nicole and Waverly both turn to each other at the same time, scared for what could possibly come out of Lucado’s mouth next. Meanwhile, Chrissy’s look of anticipation could be perfected if only she had a bucket of popcorn in her lap right now.

Lucado continues, “Even though we really can’t act the scene out, I thought the scene could come to life better if Nicole and Waverly would come up to the front and read it.”

Both girls’ stomachs drop as Lucado grabs two chairs and sets them up across from each other and gestures for them to come forward. Helpless in this situation, they both grab their books and head towards the front of the classroom.

After sitting down across from each other, Lucado instructs the class to open up to Act Two, Scene Two. While the rest of the class is finding their spot, Nicole takes this opportunity to repay Waverly for calming her nerves last time and gently nudges Waverly’s foot with her own.

Hazel eyes cautiously meet brown and Nicole tries to give off as much of a calming vibe as possible as she mouths the words ‘It’s gonna be ok’ to the girl sitting across from her. Waverly latches onto that eye contact and gives Nicole a weak smile. Right now, it’s the only thing making her feel anchored, making her safe in this position. Even if she can’t tell Nicole that, she hopes she knows there’s no one else she would be ok doing this with, other than her.

Lucado has the class ready and breaks up the girls’ moment as she addresses Nicole, “Alright Romeo, whenever you are ready.” Nicole takes a deep breath and starts in.

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_(Juliet appears in a window above)_

_But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?_

_It is the east, and Juliet is the sun._

_Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,_

_Who is already sick and pale with grief,_

_That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she._

_Be not her maid since she is envious._

_Her vestal livery is but sick and green,_

_And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off!_

_It is my lady. Oh, it is my love._

_Oh, that she knew she were!_

_She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?_

_Her eye discourses. I will answer it.—_

_I am too bold. 'Tis not to me she speaks._

_Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,_

_Having some business, do entreat her eyes_

_To twinkle in their spheres till they return._

_What if her eyes were there, they in her head?_

_The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars_

_As daylight doth a lamp. Her eye in heaven_

_Would through the airy region stream so bright_

_That birds would sing and think it were not night._

_See how she leans her cheek upon her hand._

_Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand_

_That I might touch that cheek!_

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Ay me!_

Nicole looks up at Waverly as she reads the next passage, sharing a look with her Juliet as she continues reading.

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_(aside)_

_She speaks._

_O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art_

_As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,_

_As is a wingèd messenger of heaven_

_Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes_

_Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him_

_When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds_

_And sails upon the bosom of the air._

The purposeful eye contact Nicole had while reading that section, catches Waverly off guard for a moment and she sits there contemplating as the seconds go by. Realizing the silence that has fallen over the classroom is because she needs to read, Waverly quickly snaps out of it and continues.

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_(not knowing Romeo hears her)_

_O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?_

_Deny thy father and refuse thy name._

_Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,_

_And I’ll no longer be a Capulet._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_(aside)_

_Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?_

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_(still not knowing Romeo hears her)_

_'Tis but thy name that is my enemy._

_Thou art thyself, though not a Montague._

_What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,_

_Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part_

_Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!_

_What’s in a name? That which we call a rose_

_By any other word would smell as sweet._

_So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,_

_Retain that dear perfection which he owes_

_Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,_

_And for that name, which is no part of thee_

_Take all myself._

Nicole can’t stop her heart from quickening at the last few lines of Waverly’s part. She can’t help but wonder if Waverly could feel the same way. Feel that Nicole could be perfect for her even though she is a girl.

Ms. Lucado stops the two girls from reading any further to have a discussion about what has happened so far in the story with the class. Since they are heavily involved already, Nicole and Waverly do not participate in the discussion very much. Nicole takes this opportunity to give Waverly a small, reassuring smile when she finally looks in her direction.

After the class discussion, Lucado looks at the time, “It looks like we have enough time to go ahead and start the next section. Take it away again, ladies.” Nicole takes a moment to recalibrate herself and then continues.

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_(to Juliet)_

_I take thee at thy word._

_Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized._

_Henceforth I never will be Romeo._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night,_

_So stumblest on my counsel?_

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_By a name_

_I know not how to tell thee who I am._

_My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself_

_Because it is an enemy to thee._

_Had I it written, I would tear the word._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words_

_Of that tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound._

_Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?_

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?_

_The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,_

_And the place death, considering who thou art,_

_If any of my kinsmen find thee here._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_With love’s light wings did I o'erperch these walls,_

_For stony limits cannot hold love out,_

_And what love can do, that dares love attempt._

_Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_If they do see thee they will murder thee._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye_

_Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,_

_And I am proof against their enmity._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_I would not for the world they saw thee here._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes,_

_And but thou love me, let them find me here._

_My life were better ended by their hate_

_Than death proroguèd, wanting of thy love._

As Nicole recites the last line, hazel eyes meet brown once more and the air is thick with a deafening, yet unspoken tension. Neither girl can take their eyes off the other as a shift takes place between the two. Waverly is trying hard to not be overwhelmed by the amount of sincerity contained in those brown eyes while Nicole ponders if there is anything more beautiful than the wonder held in those hazel ones.

The bell rings and both girls jump, completely caught up in the moment and unaware of their surroundings. They try and gather what’s left of their composure as they head back to their desks and Lucado addresses the class as they begin to leave. “Come back tomorrow ready to discuss what just happened in that balcony scene! Things are starting to get complicated!”

_You can say that again._ Waverly places her things back in her bag and quickly heads out the door, only to run into someone on her way out.

“Well imagine that...seems like Waverly can only pay attention to one thing these days.” Stephanie sneers as she stands directly in front of Waverly to block her path.

“What do you want, Stephanie? I’m not in the mood today.”

Nicole walks by the girls slowly and looks at Waverly for any indication of there being a problem. Before Waverly can say anything else, a light bulb goes off in Steph’s head and she turns to Nicole.

“Did you hear that Red? Waves just isn’t in the mood today. Sorry, but you can run along now.” Stephanie shoos Nicole away with a devilish grin on her face.

Nicole stops dead in her tracks, turns on her heels, and walks back over to confront Stephanie, “What is your problem?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t have a problem.”

“Well you are about to!” Nicole clenches her fists at her sides, wishing she could wipe that smirk right off of Stephanie’s face.

Waverly quickly grabs Nicole’s forearm and the redhead looks down at the other girl, “She’s totally not worth it. Let’s just go.”

Nicole relaxes and Waverly lets go of her arm as the two girls turn and walk away but before they get too far, Stephanie has to get one last word in, “You two are disgusting, you know that?”

All Nicole can see is red once those words leave Stephanie’s lips and she is turned around and heading back towards her faster than Waverly can reach out to stop her. Thankfully, Chrissy has appeared out of nowhere and steps in front of Nicole just in time.

Chrissy gently reaches out and places her hands on Nicole’s shoulders to hold her back. Talking in a whisper so no one else can hear, Chrissy tries to calm Nicole down, “Waves is right...she’s not worth it.”

Nicole does momentarily calm down thanks to Chrissy but Stephanie shows no signs of stopping and calls out to the brunette, “It really is a shame, Waverly. You fell for her predatory lesbian thing and now you are ruined.”

Chrissy sees the anger and hurt wash across Nicole’s face and feels the anger rising up in herself. “You know what? Screw it!” Chrissy shrugs her shoulders, turns around, and decks Stephanie in the face.

Stephanie goes down like a sack of potatoes, not seeing that one coming at all. Holding on to her nose, she screams out in pain, “I think you broke my nose! You bitch!”

Stephanie starts to get up to go after Chrissy but upon hearing the altercation outside her room, Ms. Lucado steps out just in time to break up the fight.

“What is going on here?!” Lucado goes up to Stephanie to access the damage as the students who stayed back to watch scatter quickly.

Trying to play the victim, Stephanie starts crying to Lucado, “Chrissy just punched me in the face! I think my nose might be broken!”

Chrissy smirks as she holds her hand that is now in considerable pain from punching Stephanie, “Don’t worry Steph, I’m sure it will be an upgrade to your face.”

“Alright that’s enough! Let’s go! Both of you to the principal’s office now! The rest of you, get to class!”

Lucado escorts Chrissy and Stephanie to the office as Nicole goes over to Waverly, “Hey, are you ok?”

“I think I should be the one asking you that. Stephanie said some pretty hurtful things about you.”

Nicole gives Waverly a small smile, but refuses to look at her, “I’ve heard worse so it’s fine. I’m sorry you had to hear all that though.”

Waverly frowns and lightly touches Nicole’s fingers to bring her attention back to her, “There was nothing fine about what just happened. But thank you for standing up for me.”

“Always. Although I think we are going to have to thank Chrissy for what she did here too.”

Both girls laugh and the bell rings for second period to start. “Well now that we are already late, we better get to class.” Waverly starts to walk off towards her next class but yells back at Nicole, “Hey! See you at lunch?”

“Yeah Waves, see you at lunch.”

* * *

All day, all anyone could talk about was what happened after English class and Waverly could not be more relieved for her and Wynonna to finally pull up outside their house. The whole way home, Wynonna did her best to get her sister to talk, but Waverly was being as vague as possible. The two girls climb out of the car and start heading inside, with Wynonna still trying her hardest to figure out exactly what happened at school today.

“C’mon...just tell me what happened and then I’ll leave you alone!”

“I don’t need anymore rumors going around than there already are, Wynonna.”

Wynonna picks up the pace so she can get in front of Waverly and stops abruptly, causing Waverly to stop walking as well. “You know I wouldn’t say anything. Besides, this will all blow over once some girl starts blowing some dude or something.”

Waverly wrinkles her nose in disgust and steps around her older sister, “Thanks for that vivid imagery...I’m gonna go throw up now.”

“If you think that’s bad babygirl, then you don’t wanna hear what I did last night. Dolls and I--”

“Oh my God! Nope, nope, nope!” Waverly sticks her fingers in her ears to block Wynonna out and walks up to the front door.

Wynonna rolls her eyes and unlocks the door, “Don’t be so dramatic. I have needs ya know.”

“And as your sister, I don’t need to know those needs!”

Wynonna walks over to the fridge and pulls out a soda, “Oh please...pretty soon I’m gonna have to hear all about you and Haught so you will get your payback.”

Waverly’s face turns instantly red, “There is no me and Nicole.”

Wynonna leans up against the fridge and takes a long swig, “Maybe not yet...but mark my words, you will be telling me all about how Haughtstuff rocked your world soon enough.”

“And on that note, I’m going to do my homework now.” Waverly walks out of the kitchen and starts up the stairs to her room.

“Try and not be too distracted now!” Wynonna calls out to her sister with smirk on her face, all too pleased with how that conversation went down.

Waverly sighs and continues up the stairs. _She is so frustrating! Nonna better get ready because I’m gonna get her back one day. Now that she brought up Nicole, I should probably text her and see how she’s doing._ Waverly pulls her phone out of her pocket and gets to the doorway of her room before almost dropping it.

“Hey Waves! How’s it going?”

“Jesus, Chrissy! You about scared me to death! How did you get in here?!” Waverly places her phone back in her pocket, the message to Nicole long forgotten.

Chrissy folds her arms across her chest, “How did I get in here? Really? We’ve been friends for how long now? I’m pretty sure I know you guys hide an extra key under the mat.”

“Alright fair,” Waverly goes to sit down on the other side of the bed, across from Chrissy. “How’s the hand feeling?”

“I mean, it has been better,” Chrissy looks down at her casted hand and laughs. “School is going to be interesting for the next couple weeks. That is, after my suspension is over.”

“You got suspended?”

“Yep...for a week.” Chrissy rolls her eyes and continues, “Apparently violence is never the answer, no matter how much the other person deserved it.”

Waverly smiles at her best friend, “Well if it makes you feel any better, you definitely broke Stephanie’s nose. It was all anyone could talk about today.”

A huge grin spreads across Chrissy’s face, “Serves her right...and at least you won’t have to see her for a couple days. That’s how long she got suspended for saying the things she said.”

Being reminded of what Stephanie said, Waverly nervously looks down at her hands, “Thanks for standing up for us Chris. You didn’t have to do that.”

Chrissy places her good hand on Waverly’s, “Of course I did. What she said to you and Nicole was beyond unacceptable.”

The two girls sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Chrissy speaks up again, “Speaking of you and Nicole, are we going to talk about what happened in class today?”

Waverly quickly picks her head up and looks at Chrissy incredulously, “What do you mean?”

Chrissy gives the brunette a look, “Seriously? I have eyes, Waverly. Something changed between the two of you with this balcony scene.”

“Well then we are doing our job. This play was meant to be acted out and we are just bringing those words to life really well then!”

Chrissy can’t help the snort that escapes her mouth, “Is that the story you are sticking to?”

Waverly crosses her arms defiantly, “It’s not a story.”

“Alright Waves, whatever you say,” Chrissy shakes her head but doesn’t push any further. “Can you tell me what I missed the rest of the day?”

* * *

The next month and a half of school went by quickly and without a hitch. Both Chrissy and Stephanie came back to school from their suspensions. Injuries healed and no further words were exchanged, at least for the time being. The weather started to get warmer, spring break came and went, and classes proceeded as usual.

The end of the school year was in sight and along with it, the Romeo and Juliet unit. Lucado had pulled Nicole and Waverly aside after class last week to tell them that she would like for them to act out the death scene coming up soon. Feeling as though they had no other choice, both girls agreed and had met up a couple times to practice the scene over the past week.

Because of where they left off in class the day before, Waverly and Nicole knew that today was going to be the day their characters died. The nerves were definitely there for the duo but they also discussed previously while practicing that they weren’t actresses so there was no need to feel pressure to make the scene perfect.

Despite all of that being talked about before, Nicole wakes up that morning feeling slightly nervous. Knowing as much as she does about Waverly, she can only imagine that she is feeling the same way. After getting dressed, Nicole pulls out her phone to text Waverly.

_Nicole (8:02 am): Morning! How are you feeling?_

_Waverly (8:05 am): I’m doing ok...we got this right?_

_Nicole (8:06 am): No doubt in my mind :)_

_Waverly (8:08 am): Ok good...then same here :)_

_Nicole (8:10 am): That’s the spirit! See you soon Waves_

Upon arriving at school, Nicole goes to her locker and after dropping her stuff off, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to prepare for English class. While she is taking a moment to herself, she suddenly feels an unwanted presence come up right beside her.

Leaning up against the lockers and smirking, Champ breaks Nicole’s concentration, “Hey Haught, what’s up?”

Nicole opens her eyes to look at her annoyance, “Don’t call me that.”

“What? Your name?”

“Last time I checked, my first name was Nicole.”

Champ rolls his eyes and still continues to have the smirk on his face, “Would you rather have me call you the nickname we came up with for you?”

Nicole slams her locker shut, thoroughly annoyed with the circumstances she finds herself in, “I’d honestly rather have you never talk to me, but we don’t always get what we want, do we?”

“You should know that better than anyone. You’re never going to get Waverly.”

Nicole gets close to Champ and puts her finger up close to his face, “First of all, Waverly doesn’t belong to anyone. And second of all, we’re done here.”

Nicole turns around and starts to walk towards Lucado’s room but Champ isn’t finished, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Homeo.”

Turning around to look at Champ, Nicole just laughs, “Is that really the best you got? Also, super mature but I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything more from you.”

She doesn’t wait for a response and continues to walk away as Champ yells after her, “You think this plan of yours is going to work, but it’s not! You’re never gonna be enough for her to care!”

Nicole doesn’t humor him with a response and gets into class a few minutes before it starts. Waverly is already at her desk and gives her a small smile as she walks by. Champ walks in a few moments later and all Nicole can think about is what he said last. A light bulb goes off in her head as her competitive nature comes to the forefront. _We will see about that today, Champ. I will show you that I already know she cares._

The bell rings and Ms. Lucado addresses the class, “We have a special treat for today’s class as we read! I asked Waverly and Nicole last week to practice so they could act out the death scene for you all. So if Romeo and Juliet could come to the front, we will get started!”

As Waverly and Nicole walk to the front of the class to get everything set up, Lucado continues by setting the scene, “If you guys remember, last class we left off with Paris finding Romeo trying to get into Juliet’s tomb. They have a confrontation where Romeo ends up killing Paris and that is where we will pick up today. Nicole, whenever you are ready, you can begin.”

Nicole looks down at Waverly, pretending to be dead, and takes a deep breath before she starts on her big monologue. _I’m sorry for switching this up on you last minute. I know we said we weren’t going to give this 100% but Champ can’t be right. Not this time._

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_A grave? Oh, no. A lantern, slaughtered youth,_

_For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes_

_This vault a feasting presence full of light._

_Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred._

_(lays Paris in the tomb)_

_How oft when men are at the point of death_

_Have they been merry, which their keepers call_

_A lightning before death! Oh, how may I_

_Call this a lightning?—O my love, my wife!_

_Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,_

_Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty._

_Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet_

_Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,_

_And death’s pale flag is not advancèd there.—_

_Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?_

_O, what more favor can I do to thee,_

_Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain_

_To sunder his that was thine enemy?_

_Forgive me, cousin.—Ah, dear Juliet,_

_Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe_

_That unsubstantial death is amorous,_

_And that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps_

_Thee here in dark to be his paramour?_

_For fear of that, I still will stay with thee,_

_And never from this palace of dim night_

_Depart again. Here, here will I remain_

Waverly hears the pain and emotion in Nicole’s voice and furrows her eyebrows, trying her best to stay still and look dead. _This is not at all how we rehearsed it. What is she doing? I mean she is doing it very well. To be honest, I almost believe she feels what she is saying..._ Nicole continues her monologue and Waverly listens to the tone of her voice with more intensity than before.

_Nicole/Romeo:_

_With worms that are thy chamber maids. Oh, here_

_Will I set up my everlasting rest,_

_And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars_

_From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last._

_Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O you_

_The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss_

_A dateless bargain to engrossing death._

_[kisses Juliet (on the forehead like they planned), takes out the poison]_

_Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide._

_Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on_

_The dashing rocks thy seasick, weary bark._

_Here’s to my love!_

_(drinks the poison) O true apothecary,_

_Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die._

_Romeo Dies._

There is short dialogue between the moment Romeo dies and Juliet wakes up, so the two girls lay there together, unable to look at each other or speak. While they are listening to their classmates read, Nicole slowly moves her hand closer to Waverly’s arm and reaches out with her pinky to touch her. Nicole moves her finger up and down in a comforting motion a couple of times and then brings her hand back to her own side.

Although it was meant to be a calming gesture, Waverly’s heartbeat quickens and she is suddenly finding it hard to concentrate. Trying to forget everything else, Waverly pushes all thoughts out of her mind and focuses on the dialogue so she knows when she is supposed to wake up. As she hears the last line spoken before she wakes up, Waverly slowly starts to open her eyes and looks over at Nicole before she sits up. _She was my rock for this whole thing and now I don’t have her to help me. What am I going to do?_ Channelling that emotion, Waverly begins.

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_O comfortable Friar! Where is my lord?_

_I do remember well where I should be,_

_And there I am. Where is my Romeo?_

_Friar Lawrence:_

_I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest_

_Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep._

_A greater power than we can contradict_

_Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away._

_Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead,_

_And Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee_

_Among a sisterhood of holy nuns._

_Stay not to question, for the watch is coming._

_Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay._

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.—_

_Exit Friar Lawrence._

_What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand?_

_Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.—_

_O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop_

_To help me after? I will kiss thy lips._

_Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,_

_To make me die with a restorative._

With shaky hands, Waverly reaches up to Nicole’s face and touches her cheek. Getting caught up in the moment, the brunette leans down and places her lips on the redhead’s cheek, fairly close to her mouth.

_[kisses Romeo (on the cheek, not as planned!)]_

Upon feeling Waverly’s lips on her cheek, Nicole’s breathing has completely stopped. _That was not what we decided on at all! What is she doing? I can’t even look at her. I don’t know what’s happening?! I need to breathe...how do I breathe again?_

Nicole feels Waverly’s lips leave her face and hears Waverly pause instead of continuing. During that short pause, Nicole feels something wet hit her cheek and figures out that a single tear has escaped Waverly’s eyes. The feeling of the tear snaps Nicole out of her panic attack and she remembers how to breathe again.

Her chest stops hurting from holding her breath but begins hurting for a whole different reason. _Waverly really got into this. She should think about acting...unless she isn’t acting at all._ Nicole is left alone with her thoughts as Waverly begins speaking again after composing herself from the kiss.

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Thy lips are warm._

_Enter Watchmen and Paris’s Page_

_Chief Watchman:_

_(to Page) Lead, boy. Which way?_

_Waverly/Juliet:_

_Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger,_

_This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die._

_(stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger and dies)_

As Waverly goes to lay down next to Nicole, she makes sure her hand lays on top of the redhead’s and gives it a quick squeeze. _I really hope you were ok with that improv._

Nicole feels the warmth of Waverly’s hand on hers and then the squeeze that follows and the butterflies in her stomach feel like they are moving around at a lightning speed. Wanting Waverly to know what she did was ok, Nicole moves her thumb and places it on top of Waverly’s hand.

Feeling Nicole respond to her touch, Waverly lets out a deep breath and smiles, not caring if it makes her look like she’s not dead. Nicole hears Waverly’s exhale and can’t help but smile herself, knowing that the girl next to her is just as relieved that they pulled this off as she is.

Their classmates finish up the play and as soon as the last line is uttered, the two girls sit up next to each other, smiles on their faces from getting through that convincingly. Lucado stands up from her desk and addresses the freshmen, “That was so amazing! I think our Romeo and Juliet deserve a round of applause!”

Lucado and their classmates clap for Nicole and Waverly as they return to their desks. Ms. Lucado gets a few questions in before class ends, but the two girls are too distracted to even pay attention. Waverly looks over at Nicole across the room and tries to get an idea of what the girl is feeling while processing her own thoughts.

_So we agreed to just go in there, do the scene, and get it over with. But then she comes in and starts performing with so much more emotion than we ever practiced it. How was I not going to get caught up in that? She really made me feel something and now she won’t even look in my direction. How am I supposed to figure out what she’s feeling if she won’t look at me?_

When the bell rings, Lucado asks the duo to stay back so she can talk to them. “You guys did such an awesome job today. You really hit it out of the park! How long did that take you to practice?”

Nicole is the first one to snap out of her thoughts, “Honestly not long...we only met up a couple times to get it down.”

“Well in that case, you guys should both really think about doing theater! You both just might have a knack for acting.”

Finally Waverly is shaken out of her thoughts and laughs slightly, “Oh I don’t know about that. I think I was just lucky that Nicole was able to bring it out of me.”

The wheels continue to churn in Nicole’s head as she tries to make sense of the words coming out of Waverly’s mouth. _What is that supposed to mean? I know that it wasn’t fair of me to switch it up on her like I did but she took it to a whole other level! I mean she almost kissed me for crying out loud...how am I supposed to know what she is feeling if she won’t tell me?_

Lucado thanks them again and sends the girls on their way to their next class. Nicole gets out of the room quick, but before she can get down the hall too far, she feels a hand close around her arm.

“Hey, do you mind explaining to me what the heck happened back there?”

Nicole turns around to look at Waverly as she drops her arm, “I don’t think I have anything to explain but you most certainly do, going off book like that.”

Waverly can’t stop the shocked expression from showing up on her face, “I went off book? You started the whole thing by going for it way harder than we ever did while practicing!”

Nicole takes a step closer to Waverly and shout whispers at her, “Says the person who almost kissed me!”

Not backing down, Waverly steps closer as well until she is just inches away from Nicole, “I was just trying to be convincing.”

“For who? The class? Yourself? Me?”

“I don’t know, all of the above? I mean, isn’t that what acting is?”

Nicole scoffs, “Are you seriously trying to tell me right now that none of that was real? The connection I felt wasn’t real? The tear that came from your eye wasn’t real?”

Waverly takes a slight step backwards, “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want the truth.”

When Waverly doesn’t respond, Nicole gets frustrated and throws her hands up in the air. Turning herself back around quickly, she starts heading to her next class.

If Waverly’s being honest, that statement completely threw her for a loop. She wasn’t expecting it at all. Seeing Nicole walk away breaks the trance she was in and she calls after Nicole.

“Nicole, wait! Please!”

Nicole continues to walk away with tears in her eyes, refusing to turn around and give Waverly the satisfaction of seeing her this way. Waverly stands in the hallway alone until Nicole fades from view, tears of her own starting to form in her eyes, with only one thought on her mind.

_What if I don’t know what the truth is?_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops.....sorry guys?.....you knew the angst had to be coming sometime though right? After those last couple of really cute chapters some major stuff had to happen this time around and what better thing to make it happen than the very angsty Romeo and Juliet? lol
> 
> As always, if you need to yell at me or want to tell me any and all thoughts you can hit me up on here or Twitter @flugge34
> 
> Next chapter will be the aftermath/fallout from the overwhelming emotions of this chapter. See how well (not well) teenage WayHaught handle their feelings and if they can get over themselves long enough to fix things. In addition to the fallout, we will get surprising interactions between unusual pairings and a big pool scene to bring us through the summer leading up to sophomore year!
> 
> Until next week! <3


	6. Freshman Year- One More Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst, angst, and more angst. Two stubborn teenagers who think the worst thing in the world is admitting their feelings. So when that is the only thing that can solve this conflict, will the results end up being better or worse? This chapter we get the fallout from the WayHaught fight and what implications that has for everyone involved. We get interesting heart-to-hearts and surprising realizations from multiple characters. We also get one of summer's favorite past times: the pool. Because when you get a bunch of teenagers with heightened emotions together to try and talk through said emotions in the heat, with water, and with little clothing, the results have to end well right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello amazing Earpers!!!
> 
> First of all, I want to sincerely apologize for this chapter being a week late! Life kinda got in the way and so I hope this chapter makes up for it! I guess a new job, your first girlfriend, and some major writer's block will delay your writing by quite a bit lol. That being said, I am SO happy to finally be posting this chapter for you guys!
> 
> This chapter was inspired by the song One More Summer (Acoustic) by No Doubt so click on the link below and give it a listen!  
> -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6yOrmGfnX0
> 
> Now I know you guys had to wait for this chapter and I hate to say that it will be awhile again before I start posting sophomore year. I like to update on a regular schedule which means writing most of the whole year before I get to start publishing for you guys. I will do my best to get writing as quickly as I can but it will probably be a few months before you see any of sophomore year. Adulting sucks and I wish I had more time to write but you guys keep me motivated to continue to grind and make it happen so thank you <3
> 
> And since I have kept you waiting long enough, without further ado, here is Chapter Six and the end of freshman year! Much love Earpers! <3

Waverly texted Nicole every day of the week following their fight, with no response. Every day she would get to English class early in hopes of getting the chance to talk to her, only to have Nicole walk into class literally moments before it was about to start. And then every time after class, no matter how quick Waverly was, she could never catch Nicole before she was gone.

The brunette would sit at lunch every day, barely picking at her food, watching all possible points of entry to the lunchroom for a girl that never showed up. Waverly would get home after school and watch out her bedroom window, just to catch a glimpse of the redhead to make sure she was ok. She had no other contact with Nicole besides seeing her from afar. Every night, after all texts have continued to be ignored, Waverly would fall asleep in bed, clutching her pillow as tears fell freely from her eyes. _I didn’t realize I could miss you this much._

* * *

If Nicole was being honest, she knew she wasn’t handling the situation with Waverly the right way. But Nicole was tired. She was tired of being the bigger person. She was tired of trying so hard and still falling short. She was tired of not being enough for someone she really cared about. And so she took her stubbornness and, no matter how much it hurt, she avoided addressing Waverly at all costs.

Text message after text message came pouring into Nicole’s phone. She didn’t even have to look anymore to know who they were from. Whenever she got the notification, she would “look” at it and then immediately lock her phone again and put it away. Her heart just couldn’t take any more disappointment.

Dodging Waverly during school proved to be more difficult though and she was starting to run out of tricks. There were only so many times you could hide out in the library before you started to get a reputation. Same for the restroom if she was being completely candid. And having to bring her lunch every day to avoid the lunchroom was getting old real fast. Luckily for Nicole, there was only a little over a week left before summer began and she wouldn’t have to make these decisions much longer.

Nicole did however make the decision to choose herself for once. Protect her heart this one time. She had to wait for Waverly to figure it out. And truly figure it out, not just what she thought was figuring it out. Which is why Nicole was standing her ground and avoiding Waverly. There was going to be no interference on her part. No telling Waverly what she wants. _If she truly misses me after she has had time to REALLY think, then she will find me and tell me how she feels._

* * *

The last week of school had gone by agonizingly slow for the girls, as neither one relented concerning their action plan. When the last day of school finally rolled around, Waverly couldn’t help but feel conflicted. A part of her was relieved to know that she wouldn’t have to deal with anything school related anymore but that also meant she wasn’t going to be seeing Nicole anymore either unless she wanted her to.

Chrissy looks over at her best friend, sitting there staring off into space and rolling her peas around her plate with a spoon, and sighs. “Waves...Wave...Waverly...Earth to Waverly!” Chrissy waves her hand in front of the girl’s face.

Waverly shakes her head to snap out of it, “Huh? Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked you if you wanted to hang out after school today. Kick off our summer right!”

“I don’t know, Chris. It’s been a rough week. I kinda just wanna go home and do nothing.”

Chrissy rolls her eyes, “And by nothing you mean incessantly texting Haught and watching her out your bedroom window like a crazy person.”

Waverly turns to Chrissy and glares at her, “I am not a crazy person. If you were getting radio silence from someone you ca--, are friends with, you would feel the same way.”

“I honestly couldn’t tell you how I would feel Waverly! I don’t even know exactly what happened between you two! You won’t talk to me, or anyone else about it for that matter!”

Waverly puts the spoon down on her tray and gets up from her seat, “I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you OR anyone else! I will talk to you later Chris.”

“Waverly, wait! I’m sorry!” as Chrissy watches the girl walk away from her, her frustration manifests itself into a great idea. _Well if I can’t get the answer from you Waves, then you have left me with no choice._

* * *

When the final bell sounds at the end of the day, Nicole lets out a deep breath. _I can finally relax now. I don’t have to keep trying to hide. And then hopefully I can distract myself enough this summer until Waverly is ready to have an honest conversation._

Nicole is too anxious to wait for her mom so she decides to walk home to decompress and sort out her thoughts. As she walks, she takes the scenic route and goes by the ice cream stand that her and Waverly stopped at the first time they went on a walk together. The redhead feels a pang in her chest but continues to walk by.

As Nicole gets to her house, she stops on the sidewalk out front, sees multiple missed text messages that she continues to ignore, and looks over at the Earp property. _Please don’t take too long to figure it out Waverly. This is killing me just as much as it’s killing you._ With a forlorn look on her face, Nicole turns towards her house and walks inside, not knowing that a certain someone saw what just transpired from her upstairs bedroom window.

* * *

Waverly had tried to find Nicole immediately after school. She didn’t want to leave freshman year off on a bad note. Remembering back to that first day, never in a million years did she think this was how her first year of high school was going to go. Looking back at it now, she wouldn’t change a thing, except for this last couple weeks. She would do anything to not have to see that pained expression on Nicole’s face ever again.

When Waverly couldn’t find Nicole, she got home as quickly as she could. Flinging the front door open, she bursts inside and takes the steps two at a time up to her room. Tossing her backpack aside, Waverly assumes her regular position in front of her window and waits until she sees Nicole come home.

Her attention is piqued when she catches a glimpse of red down the sidewalk from Nicole’s house. She quickly pulls out her phone to send another plea, asking Nicole to finally just give her a chance to explain, only to watch the other girl blatantly ignore it. _Why won’t you just give me a chance to explain myself? Don’t I deserve at least that?_

Waverly’s breath catches in her throat when the redhead decides to actually look in her direction. She knows there’s no way Nicole could see that she was watching out her window from that far away, but after seeing the girl walk away dejectedly, Waverly can’t help but feel a little guilty. _I hate that I don’t know how to fix this...why won’t you help me fix this?_

A few minutes have gone by since Nicole went inside her house and Waverly continues to sit close by the window as she scrolls through her Twitter feed. Noticing movement out of the corner of her eye, she glances out the window and immediately panics. Strolling up to Nicole’s front door right now is her best friend. _No, no, no! Chrissy, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!_

Waverly pulls up their texting conversation as quickly as she can and sends a barrage of messages hoping that Chrissy will look at her phone before she does something stupid. Much to Waverly’s chagrin, her friend doesn’t even notice her phone before she raises her arm and knocks on Nicole’s door. _Fudgenuggets! Chrissy, I am going to kill you!_

* * *

Nicole walks inside her house and sets her backpack down just inside the door, heading straight for the kitchen. _This whole avoiding lunch and only having snacks during the day thing sucked so much!_ As she grabs some snacks from the refrigerator and starts stuffing her face, Nicole hears a knock on the door. _Ugh...now who could that be?_

Nicole sighs and tries to yell with a mouthful of food, “Just a sec!” She places the rest of the food back in the fridge and makes her way over to the door. Barely swallowing the food in her mouth, she opens the door to find a very upset looking Chrissy on the other side.

“Chrissy, what are you doing here? I’m not in the mood.”

Chrissy crosses her arms, “Funny, that’s basically what a certain someone else said to me earlier. But I don’t care this time because one of you IS going to talk to me and it looks like you’re the lucky winner Haught.”

“Nope! We’re not doing this...sorry!” Nicole goes to shut the door but before she can, Chrissy reaches out, makes contact with the door, and pushes her way into Nicole’s house.

“What the hell Chrissy?!” Nicole retreats and throws her hands up in frustration.

Chrissy shuts the door behind her, gets right into Nicole’s personal space, and points her finger at her, “Don’t what the hell me Haught! What the hell is going on between you and Waverly?!”

Nicole stands her ground and speaks to Chrissy through clenched teeth, “Apparently there is nothing going on between me and Waverly. But I’m sure she already told you that.”

“First of all, you and I both know that’s bullshit! Second of all, Waverly has told me nothing which is why I’m here. Now, I’m not leaving without some answers so you better start spilling.”

When Nicole makes eye contact with Chrissy, she sees a determination in her eyes that she knows is not going to go away anytime soon. Accepting her fate, Nicole sighs and gestures towards the living room, where the two girls go and take a seat.

Nicole sits there, delaying, trying to come up with the right words to say, “I really don’t know what you want me to say Chrissy. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Chrissy looks over at the disheartened girl and can’t help but feel bad for her, “Ok, well let’s start from the beginning then. When was the last time you knew for sure everything was fine?”

“Probably right before the Romeo and Juliet unit started...thanks for that by the way!”

“Hey! I had my reasons for doing what I did. And we aren’t talking about me right now.”

Nicole takes a deep breath and furrows her eyebrows in concentration, “I mean I guess the turning point was probably your fight with Stephanie.”

Chrissy looks down sheepishly, “Yeah, not one of my best moments...but she deserved what she got and so much more!”

“Trust me, I’m not disagreeing with you. But I think maybe having those things said out loud kinda scared her a bit?”

“The thing is, Waverly usually doesn’t get scared or back down, especially from someone like Stephanie. There’s gotta be something else too.”

“Well...”

Chrissy narrows her eyes and looks at the redhead, “Well what, Haught?”

Nicole starts fidgeting in her seat, “That something else could be something that I did...”

A silence falls over the girls until Chrissy gets impatient, “I’m waiting, Haught!”

“Ok, ok! But it’s really mostly Champ’s fault!” Chrissy gives her a questioning look and Nicole folds. “Fine! It was partially his fault but it was also my big ego getting in the way too, ok?”

Chrissy looks at Nicole disapprovingly, “Really, Haught? I expected this from that boy-child but not from you.”

When Nicole stays silent and looks like her heart is breaking in two, Chrissy relents from her attack, “Look, I’m sorry. I’m sure it was mostly Chump’s fault but talk me through what happened.”

Nicole speaks quietly, “Ok...so you know the day Waverly and I were supposed to act out the death scene? Well before class started, Champ cornered me at my locker.”

“Ugh, of course he did! Sorry, I can’t stand that imbecile. But continue.”

“So during our unfortunate interaction, he basically told me Waverly didn’t care about me and she never would. Of course, I wanted to prove him wrong.”

“Oh no, Haught...what did you do?”

Nicole starts twisting the ring around her finger, “Well you know how Waverly and I rehearsed the death scene a couple times beforehand? We both agreed we would perform it at like 50% so that we didn’t take it too seriously.”

“Ok, I’m following so far. Keep going.”

“Champ just got so under my skin and I wanted to prove him wrong so bad! So I decided to change that 50% into 110% without telling Waverly.”

Chrissy starts shaking her head as she puts the pieces together, “And how did that work out for ya?”

“I mean you were there. You saw it. The performance was great but I don’t think Waverly appreciated being blindsided.”

“You don’t say...” Chrissy laughs at the obvious conclusion.

“This isn’t funny, Chrissy.”

“You’re right, the overall situation isn’t funny. But it is funny that you think your decision to perform harder is what blindsided Waverly.”

Nicole’s eyebrows furrow, “I’m not following...”

“That’s because you two are absolutely terrible when it comes to each other! But I know my best friend and she wasn’t blindsided by that. She was blindsided by her realization of her feelings for you.”

“Now that’s really not funny, Chrissy...don’t mess with me. You know how I feel about her.”

“I promise I’m not messing with you! And neither is Waverly. You just have to be patient with her while she’s figuring things out.”

Nicole lightly massages her forehead, “Trust me, I can be patient. I would never force her to be someone she’s not. But I need her to meet me halfway too. I can’t wait forever.”

Chrissy looks over at Nicole with her signature smirk, “You don’t worry about that at all...leave that to me.”

Nicole responds by looking at her with a concerned expression, “I don’t think you realize that statement is not very comforting.”

The blonde gets up and starts heading towards the door, “Aww...c’mon now, Haught! Have I ever let you down before? I’m the best wingwoman you could ask for!”

The redhead follows Chrissy towards the door, “You’re something alright...it was nice to see you, Chrissy. Always fun being ambushed in my own home.”

Chrissy rolls her eyes, “Please...you are gonna thank me someday for all of this.” She steps out on the porch, “Mark my words Haught!”

As Nicole watches Chrissy walk away, she stands there processing what just happened. _I don’t even know what that just was. Can I trust her to not mess this up even more than it already is? But Chrissy does know Waverly best...if anyone can figure it out, it’s probably her._ As Nicole turns to head back inside, she takes one last look over at the Earp house before stepping inside and closing the door. _At least I hope so because I don’t want this to be over already._

* * *

Gus comes home from Shorty’s to a seemingly empty house. Guessing that Wynonna is most likely with Dolls, she goes in search of her other niece. As she ascends the stairs and walks to the girl’s doorway, she spots Waverly stationed near her window.

“Hey, kid! Why aren’t you out there celebrating the last day of school for the year?”

Waverly continues to look out the window instead of at her aunt, “I just wasn’t up to doing much celebrating today.”

Gus goes to sit down on Waverly’s bed and faces the girl, “What’s going on? You have been in a funk for the past week or so.”

“I don’t know if I wanna talk about it...”

Gus pats the bed right next to her, “Will you come over here and try?”

Waverly slowly stands up and walks over to sit next to her aunt, “I think I made a mistake, Gus.”

“Alright, well you have to give me more than that sweetheart.”

The brunette takes a deep breath and musters up the courage to respond, “I took out my frustrations on someone who didn’t deserve it and now I don’t know if I can make it better.”

“Frustrations about what?”

Waverly pauses, struggling to come up with the right words, “My feelings have me all sorts of confused right now. And if I’m confused, how can I even start to explain to h--them what’s going on?”

Gus puts her arm around Waverly’s shoulders, “Well if you don’t give them a chance to understand, you’re still going to be stuck right here.”

“What if I’m afraid that I’m going to lose them?”

Waverly looks up at Gus with tears in her eyes and Gus pulls her in closer, “It sounds like right now you really don’t have them anyway...so what do you have to lose?”

_Only everything._ Gus holds Waverly a little while longer until the girl pulls away. Gus gets up to leave but stops once she gets to the doorway.

“You’ve always been an honest kid. Don’t stop now.”

Waverly watches as her aunt leaves the room and then pulls out a notebook and pen. If there’s anything that she excels at, it’s planning. She spends the next hour figuring out how she wants her conversation with Nicole to go. When she’s satisfied, Waverly sets down her pen and reads what she has one more time. _Now let’s just hope that you will actually hear me out._

* * *

For the next week, both girls let their nerves get the better of them and neither one makes an attempt to talk to the other. Of course, they keep tabs on each other from afar and also use Chrissy as a reluctant source of information. Chrissy finally decides that she has had enough and comes up with a plan to fix this nonsense happening between the girls.

Phase one of Chrissy’s plan was fairly easy to accomplish: get Wynonna and Dolls to agree to come with them. After talking with the couple and just barely mentioning the city pool and the attire required, they agreed within seconds. And then scarred Chrissy for life with their PDA.

Phase two proved to be a little more difficult: figure out what Nicole’s lifeguarding schedule was without raising suspicion. This was where Chrissy got a little creative and used Nicole and Waverly’s fight against them. Claiming to want to hang out with just her sometime this week to bond some more, Chrissy finds out when the lifeguard has to work so they can make sure to go one of those days.

Now phase three, which was going to be the hardest of them all: convince Waverly to come to the pool with the group. Knowing that the girl has been completely withdrawn from everything since school ended, Chrissy had prepared for the worst case scenario when she pulled out her phone to text her best friend.

_Chrissy (3:27 pm): Hey loser! Whatcha doing tomorrow?_

_Waverly (3:32 pm): Wow love you too Chris...and nothing that I know of why?_

_Chrissy (3:33 pm): Well since you have been neglecting me :( I thought we could hang out_

_Waverly (3:35 pm): What were you thinking?_

_Chrissy (3:37 pm): How’s your swimsuit game?_

_Waverly (3:39 pm): The pool? I could be down with that...I need out of this house anyway_

_Chrissy (3:40 pm): YES!!! Ok so tomorrow afternoon catch a ride with Dolls and your sister and you guys will come pick me up :)_

_Waverly (3:42 pm): You invited Wynonna..._

_Chrissy (3:43 pm): You want to walk all the way across town instead?_

_Waverly (3:45 pm): Ugh fine...we will all go together then_

_Chrissy (3:46 pm): That’s what I thought! I’m so ready for this! We’re gonna make such a splash! ;)_

_Waverly (3:48 pm): Omg that was terrible...I will see you tomorrow_

_Chrissy (3:50 pm): Alright cool! Snap me later!_

_Ok, so that went so much better than I thought it would. I thought for sure she was gonna fight me on that one._ Chrissy rolls over on her bed and reaches for the remote on the nightstand. Turning on the tv and pulling up Netflix, the girl prepares to do absolutely nothing the rest of the day. As she scrolls through her options, she thinks back to her conversation with Waverly. _Getting you to go to the pool was super easy, now I just hope that getting you to stay once you’re there is just as easy once you see who else will be there._

* * *

Tomorrow afternoon sneaks up on Waverly and as Wynonna walks into her room to see if she is ready, she finds the girl frantically rifling through her dresser drawers.

Wynonna walks up behind her sister as quietly as possible and grabs her on both sides, “You ready yet?!”

Waverly practically jumps out of her skin, “Jesus, Wynonna! And no I’m not ready! I have nothing to wear!”

“Well I guess you are just gonna have to go naked then!”

The younger Earp rolls her eyes and throws up her arms, “You are insufferable!”

Wynonna copies her sister and makes an obscene gesture along with it, “Seriously Waves, just pick something and let’s go!”

“I can’t just pick something when I literally have no legit options!” Waverly sits down on the floor in front of her dresser, putting her head in her hands.

“I highly doubt you have absolutely no options in the millions of clothes you own,” Wynonna walks over to the dresser and starts looking through the drawer herself.

After spending a few minutes looking herself, Wynonna slowly steps back and looks down regretfully at Waverly, “Dude...you are right. You can’t wear any of these!”

Waverly looks up at Wynonna with the saddest and most desperate look imaginable, “Well, I guess that settles it then...I can’t go anymore!”

Wynonna narrows her eyes in concentration and after a few moments, a light bulb goes off, “I’ve got it Waves! Start stripping and I will be right back!”

The older brunette takes off out of Waverly’s room and runs across the hall. Waverly watches the doorway intently, waiting for her sister to return. After a couple of minutes, she hears a crash from Wynonna’s room and an exclamation of triumph, as she gets up from the floor to see what she has found.

Wynonna comes flying back into the room with a suit in her hands, “This one would be perfect for you! And look, it still has the tags on and everything!”

Waverly grabs the swimsuit and starts inspecting it, “Wy, there’s no way I’m wearing this suit.”

“Why not?! You would look super hot in it!”

“It’s inappropriate!”

Wynonna rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, “Yeah...ok grandma. Just try it on!”

Waverly looks down at the swimsuit in her hands but still doesn’t agree so Wynonna interjects again, “Look Waves, you have two choices. Either wear those little kid swimsuits that most definitely are not going to fit you, or try on this swimsuit that will fit and make you look good.”

“Fine! I will at least try it on...” When Wynonna doesn’t move, Waverly gives her a look, “A little privacy would be great!”

“Alright I’m stepping outside, but you are showing me what it looks like once it’s on!”

The brunette puts the suit on and steps in front of the mirror to see what the verdict is. _Ugh...why does Wynonna have to be right? Even if there is basically nothing to it, it does look good._

Wynonna knocks on the door frame before barging back into the room, “Waverly it doesn’t take that long to try on a swimsuit. I’m coming in now!”

Waverly turns around to face her sister and Wynonna lets out a low whistle while placing her hands out in front of her chest, “I told you that you had the...body...to pull this off!”

“Are you sure, Nonna? I don’t want everyone to be staring and making fun of me.”

Wynonna can’t help the laugh that escapes her mouth, “Trust me, babygirl. If they are staring it’s because you look hot as hell! Speaking of hot...would it help if I went across the street and got Haught’s opinion? Would you believe me then?”

Waverly’s eyes go wide as she manages to stammer out a response, “That...that won’t be necessary! I believe you!”

“Damn right you do...now put some clothes on over that. Dolls should be here in a few minutes.” Wynonna picks up Waverly’s shirt from earlier, tosses it to her, and walks out of the room.

Waverly quickly gets dressed and gathers all her things together before going to meet her sister downstairs. They don’t have to wait too long before Dolls is pulling into the driveway, honking his horn to announce his arrival. The two brunettes pile in the car and as Waverly climbs in the backseat, she makes sure to divert her eyes from what’s happening in the front seat. _I’ve made that mistake one too many times._

A few moments pass before Waverly starts to get impatient, “Are you guys about done up there? I would like to get to the pool sometime today.”

Wynonna pulls away from Dolls with a smirk on her face, “Don’t worry Waves, you will have plenty of time to get wet too today.”

“Oh my God! Seriously Wynonna?!”

The older Earp laughs hysterically as Dolls shakes his head and backs out of the driveway. On the short drive to Chrissy’s house, Wynonna blasts 80s rock music with the windows down and not a care in the world. When the trio drives up to the Nedley household, their arrival is so loud that Waverly doesn’t even have to text Chrissy to come outside.

The blonde rushes towards the car and pulls open the door, “About time you guys got here! I can’t wait to get this day started!” Chrissy closes the door behind her and Dolls sets off towards the pool.

“Well you can blame us being late on the Queen of PDA over here,” Waverly rolls her eyes and gestures towards the passenger seat.

“Excuse me?” Wynonna whips around in her seat. “Miss Indecisive over here couldn’t find anything to wear and should be more grateful to her sister for saving her ass.”

Chrissy turns to Waverly and lightly hits her on the arm, “I thought you said you were all good when it came to a suit?”

“I thought I was too until I looked in my dresser! But I most definitely was not ok! But Wynonna didn’t really help...people are still going to be staring at me.”

“You’re welcome!” Wynonna pipes up from the front seat as Chrissy looks at her friend confusedly.

Waverly leans in and whispers in Chrissy’s ear, “This suit is SO inappropriate! I’m not saying it doesn’t look good but I still should be wearing something else.”

Chrissy whispers back, “Where did you get the suit?”

Waverly gestures towards Wynonna again, “It was one of hers that she never wore.”

“Oh my God, this is perfect...” Chrissy smiles as she imagines a certain lifeguard’s reaction to seeing what Waverly is wearing.

“Umm...have you been listening?! This is not perfect! Why would you say that?!”

Chrissy quickly backtracks, “Oh no specific reason! But Wave, your sister basically always looks good--”

“Damn right I do!” Wynonna interrupts, causing Waverly to reach around and attempt to cover her mouth from the back seat.

Waverly then looks over at Chrissy with a fire in her eyes, “Whose side are you on?!”

Chrissy throws her hands up in front of her, “Trust me, I’m on yours!” _You have no idea how much I’m on yours._

“Funny way of showing it Chris.” Waverly slouches down in her seat and crosses her arms.

“Aww c’mon now Waves...that’s not fair. I can compliment Wynonna but at the end of the day I’m still your best friend.”

“Yeah babygirl give her a break...she was basically saying there is no way possible that you won’t look good with my style and your body.” Wynonna turns to Chrissy and gives her a wink, hoping she bailed her out at least a little bit.

“Ugh...I guess you’re right. I’m just nervous so I’m taking it out on you and that’s not fair. I’m sorry.”

Chrissy places her hand on Waverly’s shoulder and smiles, “It’s gonna be ok, I promise.”

Waverly smiles back and turns to look out the window. Chrissy removes her hand and looks over at Wynonna, mouthing the words ‘thank you’. Wynonna gives the girl a nod and turns back towards the front of the car, grabbing Dolls’ hand in the process. The next few minutes pass by in silence until they finally pull into the pool parking lot.

“Well girls, we finally made it.” Dolls announces to the trio as he tries to find a parking spot in the crowded lot.

“Looks like the whole town is here today too...” Wynonna realizes what she just said and cringes as she stops herself from continuing that thought.

“Perfect.” Waverly utters the single word as Dolls finds a spot to park in and the crew starts bailing out of the vehicle.

The group grabs everything they need and heads towards the entrance. After paying the small admission, the girls head one way to their locker room while Dolls heads to his. The trio finds a group of lockers not being used and sets up shop there.

Waverly takes off the clothes over her swimsuit and sets them in the open locker. As she is getting her towel and tote bag together, she hears an exclamation beside her.

“Damn girl! And here you were worried about what you looked like...I literally can’t right now!” Chrissy steps back and paces around the girl. “I’m gonna have to leave!” _And go find Nicole ASAP because she isn’t gonna know what to do when she sees her!_

Waverly sighs and rolls her eyes as her face starts turning red, “You are completely ridiculous. Would you quit messing around and grab your stuff so we can actually get out there?”

“Alright, alright...I’m going!” Chrissy grabs her stuff as the girls turn to look for Wynonna.

“Where in the heck did she go?!” Chrissy exclaims as she finds no one standing next to Waverly.

“She probably hightailed it out of here to go find Dolls,” the younger Earp makes a gagging gesture as the two girls exit the locker room.

As the duo steps out into the pool area, they realize just how busy it really is. It seems like every inch of the place is crawling with people but they manage to find where Wynonna and Dolls are, near the fence by the diving boards. Waverly and Chrissy add their belongings to the couples’ and really look out towards the pool area for the first time when Waverly’s body goes rigid.

Waverly looks up and a flash of red catches her eye as she sees none other than a certain redhead she is not speaking to, on duty at the diving area. Quickly turning to her best friend, she grabs her arm and speaks in a hushed tone, “Please tell me you did not know that Nicole is a lifeguard!”

“Now don’t be mad...” Chrissy puts her hands up in front of her as a barrier between herself and Waverly.

“Chrissy!!!”

“Look, you may not be ready but you and Nicole need to have a conversation and what better place to do it than somewhere she can’t run away from you?”

“I suppose you are right...” Waverly stares off in the distance in Nicole’s direction. _The only problem is that my written out game plan is still at home...of course._

* * *

Nicole got to the pool that day for her shift, saw how many people were already there, and wanted to turn around and go right back home. The past week after Chrissy’s visit had not been very fun as she was worried about what kind of plan the blonde had up her sleeve. _And the one person I would want to talk about Chrissy with, I can’t._

Nicole walks into the employee only locker room, places her belongings in her locker, and starts changing into her lifeguarding suit. Making sure to put plenty of sunscreen on her pale skin, she grabs her whistle and sunglasses and checks to see who she is coming in to relieve. _Rosita is my partner today...great. She is gonna be too busy flirting instead of actually doing her job._

The redhead spots Rosita at the diving area and walks up to the chair, “Hey Rosita, how’s it going today?”

Rosita looks down towards Nicole and slides her sunglasses down her nose, “Well hey there yourself Haughtstuff.” The girl ignores the rest of Nicole’s question as she smirks at her.

“Looks like we are partners today so I’m here to relieve you now,” Nicole stands there awkwardly as she waits for Rosita to come down.

The brunette scales down the chair and saunters over to Nicole, “Thanks, it has been pretty busy...” She gets close and drags her hand across Nicole’s shoulders, “But you’re my hero now that you’re here.”

Rosita winks at the girl as she walks away to go take her break. Nicole sighs as she starts climbing into the chair. _Today is going to be a long day...especially if she keeps that up._

Nicole gets situated in the chair and glances out across the entire expanse of the city pool. From her lifeguarding post, she can see everything. The kids going round after round down the big water slide. The mothers and their children wading in the kiddie pool. The pre-teens roughhousing in the regular pool area. The girls her age laying on the sidelines tanning while the guys are doing their best to impress them on the diving boards.

_Could they be any more predictable?_ The redhead rolls her eyes as she is forced to watch their primitive behavior unfold from her perch near the diving boards.

Despite the few annoyances of the job, Nicole thoroughly enjoyed lifeguarding. She got to witness people enjoying themselves and having fun on a daily basis. She also got to make sure they stayed safe; a characteristic she got from her father. She felt a sense of pride with this job. She was doing something that was important and made a difference.

So when she has to blow her whistle and yell at Champ Hardy and his friends for what seems like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes, she tries to remind herself of why she chose this summer job. Closing her eyes for just a moment, she takes a deep breath to relax herself. When she opens them again, she is not prepared for what she sees over by the fence and that relaxation she just tried to regain goes straight out the window.

Nicole would recognize that golden brown hair anywhere. Normally seeing Waverly causes her to catch her breath but seeing the way she looks in that swimsuit is going to put her in cardiac arrest. _This girl is literally trying to murder me...did it just get really hot out here all of a sudden?_ Nicole does her best to not make it completely noticeable that she is staring but she can’t seem to tear her eyes away.

All of a sudden Waverly is looking in her direction and it takes every ounce of willpower in Nicole to not immediate whip her head away and make it obvious to everyone that she was staring. She manages to slowly turn her head away and make it look like she was just scanning the area. _Thank god I have these sunglasses on...that way she doesn’t know for sure that my eyes were just glued on her._

As soon as Nicole saw Waverly arrive wearing that, she knew she was going to be a goner. _This is going to be the longest shift of my life._ Almost as if she could read her mind, Waverly eases her way into the water and Nicole has to remind herself that there are other people at the pool today besides her.

Successfully remembering that for a few minutes, the lifeguard manages to do her job until she sees Waverly lifting herself out of the pool and she becomes a gay mess. She watches the way Waverly’s arm muscles flex as she pushes against the pool edge. How her body effortlessly glides up and out of the water. How naturally sexy the girl looks as she runs her hand through her damp hair. She watches the water run down Waverly’s body from her head to her feet and attempts to look away to regain her composure before she embarrasses herself any further.

Out of nowhere, Nicole gets splashed with a bunch of water. Readying her whistle in her mouth, she looks down at the culprit to see none other than Chrissy Nedley treading water in the diving area below.

Removing the whistle from her mouth, she yells down at the blonde, “What is your problem?! I’m on duty Chrissy!”

Chrissy laughs and gives her a look, “Sorry you looked a little flushed...was just trying to help you out! Also wanted to remind you that the word lifeguard does not mean just focusing on guarding one person’s life.”

“Yes Chrissy it’s probably because it is very warm outside today and I am fully aware of what my lifeguarding duties are thank you very much.”

Chrissy puts her hands up in surrender, “Hey I was just checking! Seemed like you had a one-track mind going on there but I mean, I don’t blame you.”

“Did this little visit into my area have a purpose, Chrissy?”

“Wow...someone is in a mood today. I can’t come check in on my friend and see how she’s doing?”

Nicole sighs as she continues to scan the area of the pool assigned to her, “No you can. I’m sorry...today just has been rough and I’m ready for my shift to be over already.”

Chrissy floats on her back in the water below and flippantly addresses the redhead, “Guess your day off yesterday didn’t help reset ya today huh?”

“How did you know I didn’t work yesterday?” Chrissy continues to float as she waits for the light bulb to go off in Nicole’s head.

“Oh my God, that’s why you asked me what my schedule was...not to hang out but to know when to bring Waverly to the pool!”

The blonde brings her finger up to her nose, “I told you I would come up with a plan. I’m just slightly offended it took you this long to figure it out.”

Nicole takes off her sunglasses to make eye contact with the other girl, “That’s really not fair Chris. I have a disadvantage...I can’t leave. I thought you were on my side here!”

Chrissy goes back to treading water and looks at Nicole, “First of all, I am on both your sides with this plan. Second of all, all’s fair in love and war!”

She starts to swim away, leaving Nicole to process the words that just came out of her mouth. After a few moments, her brain catches up and she yells out to Chrissy, “Who said anything about love?!”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t have to!” Chrissy smirks and continues to swim back to the other side of the pool where Waverly, Wynonna, and Dolls are laying on their towels in the grass.

Nicole’s face starts to heat up as she watches Chrissy join the trio over by the fence. From her chair, she can make out that the two best friends are conversing and when Chrissy goes to sit down, Waverly looks directly at Nicole.

Undoubtedly being caught in the act of staring, Nicole tries to smoothly place her sunglasses back on her face and not only epically fails at doing that, but almost manages to send them crashing to the ground as well. The brunette watches the mess of a scene happening over in the lifeguarding chair and smirks to herself.

After getting her sunglasses back on, she sees Waverly smiling to herself and knows she definitely saw that whole train wreck take place. _Chrissy, I love you but I also hate you so much right now...this plan of yours better work._

* * *

Once Waverly gets over her initial shock of seeing Nicole working at the pool the same day they decide to go, she nonchalantly watches the lifeguard as she tries to muster up the courage to go talk to her. _This whole thing has Chrissy written all over it...she just always has to meddle. She’s lucky I love her so much._

While she is giving herself a mental pep talk, Waverly gets slightly distracted and really looks at Nicole as she is sitting in the chair. The redhead is wearing essentially a lifeguarding sports bra with swim shorts and Waverly’s mouth gets dry as she flashes back to the day she saw her mowing the lawn. Nicole is also sporting her sunglasses and has her whistle ready at the edge of her mouth, looking and giving off an authoritative vibe that makes Waverly uncomfortable enough to need to get into the water and quickly.

Waverly looks over at Chrissy organizing her things and grows impatient, “Hey Chris, are you about ready to get in the water?”

Chrissy looks up from her belongings and sees Waverly standing near the edge of the pool with her hand on her hip looking more agitated by the second. Deciding not to challenge the girl right now, Chrissy steps away from her stuff, “It looks like I am...let’s go!”

Both girls get into the water and Chrissy can’t help but notice that Waverly’s attention is continuously being drawn to the other side of the pool. After casually swimming around for awhile, Waverly gets out of her back floating position to let Chrissy know she is going to go sunbathe for a bit. Once upright, her best friend is nowhere to be found though. _Great...what kind of trouble is she getting into now?_

Waverly swims over to the edge of the pool, lifts herself out, and runs her hand through her hair before making her way back over to Wynonna and Dolls. As she gets closer to the couple, she notices that Wynonna has a big shit-eating grin on her face and isn’t sure if she is ready to hear the words that are bound to come out of her sister’s mouth.

“So Waves, just what the hell was that back there?”

“What are you talking about?”

Wynonna narrows her eyes, “Please...you have been staring at Haught since we got here and then you get out of the water like you are modeling for some sexy commercial. So you wanna try that again?”

Waverly grabs her towel from her bag and wraps it around her, “Seriously? I can’t look at one of my friends, get out of the water, or make sure my hair isn’t in my face without it having to mean something else?”

“Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that either...” Wynonna gestures over to where Chrissy is currently having a conversation with Nicole.

_So that’s where she went...I really am going to kill her._ Waverly watches the interaction between Chrissy and Nicole and as Chrissy is swimming back towards their group, the brunette hears Nicole yell something about love. _What the hell did Chrissy just do?_

Chrissy comes walking up to the trio with a smug look on her face. Before she can even get one word out of her mouth, Waverly is starting in on her interrogation.

“So how’s Nicole?”

“She’s pretty good...that’s so nice of you to ask Waves!”

“Cut the crap, Chris. What were you doing over there?”

Chrissy’s smiles widens, “Nothing really...just checking in on a friend.”

Waverly is growing more irritated by the second, “Then why did Nicole yell something about love as you were swimming away?”

“Oh, you heard that?”

“Yes I heard that!”

“You liked the way it sounded coming from her too didn’t ya?” Chrissy winks at Waverly as the other girl’s cheeks start to redden.

“Ugh you are insufferable!”

Chrissy shrugs her shoulders and goes to sit down on her towel next to Waverly, “Maybe so but you still love me. And isn’t that the moral of this whole story here?” She turns her head towards Nicole which makes Waverly subconsciously look in the redhead’s direction as well.

Waverly watches as Nicole tries to smoothly put her sunglasses back on after totally being caught in the act of staring when she looked over in her direction. When the lifeguard completely fails, Waverly can’t help but smile at how suave and collected this girl can be at one moment and then be a complete mess the next. _She is super adorable though. Ugh what is going on with me?!_

Seeing the range of emotions across her best friend’s face, Chrissy tries to give her a little nudge in the right direction. “You know nothing is going to get fixed if you stay sitting here...maybe you should go talk to her?”

“And what if she doesn’t wanna talk to me this soon?”

“Well there’s only one way to find out...”

Waverly sighs and gets up from her towel to start walking over to Nicole’s chair. As she walks, she rehearses what she wants to say in her head. With every step she becomes more anxious and starts nervously wringing her hands while looking down at the ground in an attempt to zone everything else out.

In doing so, the girl is not paying much attention to her surroundings while walking along the pool’s edge. All of a sudden, something whizzes by her head, someone collides with her and Waverly can feel herself falling towards the water. At the last possible second, Waverly feels water splash up at her and a strong grip around her wrist as she is pulled into someone’s arms. With her eyes shut, Waverly can’t figure out who just saved her and why she feels so calm until she takes in a deep breath. _They smell like coconut and...vanilla donuts? Omg..._

When Waverly opens her eyes and tilts her head up, she is met with the soft brown eyes and vibrant red hair she knew she would be. She is also met with a deeply concerned look on Nicole’s face as she checks to make sure she’s ok.

Nicole places her hands on the outside of Waverly’s shoulders and puts the least amount of space possible between them while still be able to look over the girl, “Waves, are you alright?”

With all the thoughts that are swimming around in her head right now, Waverly takes a moment to try and keep her brain from short circuiting. Out of the corner of her eye, Nicole sees the hooligan resurface from the water, “Hold that thought...”

Nicole pulls out her whistle and blows it at the boy, “Champ Hardy! If I have to yell at your group one more time today, you guys are banned for the rest of the week!”

“Whoa, take a chill pill Red. We’re just trying to have a good time.”

“And my job is to keep people safe. I won’t warn you again Hardy.”

“Whatever.” Champ swims over to the edge of the pool and lifts himself out. As he walks by Nicole, he gives her a slight nudge and walks away with a smirk on his face.

Nicole takes a deep breath to relax herself again and turns towards Waverly, “Sorry about that...you good?”

“Yeah I’m good...thanks for catching me before I fell by the way.”

“No problem...it’s kind of my job so no big deal.”

A smile starts to break out across Waverly’s face, “I thought saving people from drowning was your job.”

Nicole grins so big that her dimples are on display, “Eh...that’s kind of more my side hustle. My main job is to make sure pretty girls don’t fall when they’re around me.”

Waverly rolls her eyes but keeps the smile on her face, “Well, you didn’t do a very good job of that the first time we met.”

“Maybe I wasn’t trying to be good at my job then,” Nicole winks and starts walking towards the main building. _And you just totally flirted with her when you are supposed to be mad at her. Good job controlling yourself there Haught._

As Nicole is walking away, Waverly processes what the redhead just said and her face starts to sport a pink hue. _I can’t believe how the conversation always goes back to flirting. She’s so good at throwing me off and distracting me and it’s really not fair._ Realizing that Nicole is continuing to walk away, Waverly shouts out at the girl.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

The lifeguard turns around but continues to walk backwards, “I’m on break now and I intend to take full advantage of it!”

“Well we still need to talk!” The brunette hears how that sounds the moment the words leave her mouth and she slightly cringes. She lowers her voice slightly but still so Nicole can hear, “Please?”

Nicole’s heartbeat quickens involuntarily at the sound of Waverly’s request. _That’s the one phrase literally anyone can say and immediately make someone a nervous wreck. But remember this is Waverly so it’s gonna be ok._ “Yeah, you’re probably right. Meet me at the main building in like five minutes? We can talk in the staff only room, if you want.”

Waverly nods her head in approval, “That works...I will see you in a few!”

Nicole turns back around and continues walking, leaving Waverly to ruminate in her thoughts. _Alright Waverly, you have just a few minutes to get it together. Figure out what you are gonna say. Figure out what you feel, then figure out what you’re gonna say. Ugh...easier said than done that’s for sure. But just remember, it’s Nicole so it’s gonna be ok._

Chrissy can see Waverly standing on the other side of the pool, talking to herself and she can’t help but laugh to herself. _What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall for the conversation those two are about to have._

The blonde turns to look at Wynonna and the girls come to the same epiphany as Wynonna speaks for the both of them, “We are totally going to listen in on that conversation right?”

Chrissy smirks at the older Earp as she starts gathering her things together, “Wynonna, you took the words right out of my mouth.”

Dolls shakes his head and looks sternly at his girlfriend, “Are you guys serious right now?”

“As serious as you are about your gym routine babe...” Wynonna gives him a once over before turning her attention back towards her sister. When she sees Waverly moving towards the building, she reaches over and slaps Chrissy on the arm, “Alright angel pants is on the move! Let’s go!”

The duo does their best to get up and start making their way towards the main building without drawing much attention to themselves. Before they get too far away, Dolls makes sure to leave them with one last order, “You guys do not meddle in that conversation whatsoever!”

Wynonna waves her hand dismissively as they follow behind Waverly at a safe distance. When they get to the building, they hide behind the corner so they can see where the two girls head off to without being seen themselves. As Waverly walks up, Nicole meets her and leads her to one of the staff only doors. Scanning her badge, Nicole opens the door and the two girls disappear inside.

Wynonna and Chrissy share a look before moving quicker than they ever have before to set themselves right outside the door to eavesdrop. Wynonna looks at her sister’s best friend with a smirk on her face as she whispers under her breath, “How much you wanna bet that they end up kissing in there before they come out?”

Chrissy looks at her incredulously, “Are you taking the yes they will side?!”

“Umm...have you seen the way they look at each other? It’s vomit inducing for sure. Of course I’m taking the yes they will side.” Wynonna sticks out her hand for the other girl to take.

“Oh you are so on!” Chrissy takes Wynonna’s hand in hers. “You are gonna regret this Earp. They may look at each other that way but they are both too chickenshit to act on it.”

“We’ll see...we’ll see.”

The two girls shake hands and once they let go, both immediately put one ear to the door and wait for the conversation to start.

* * *

Waverly gives Nicole a few minutes by standing where she left her and rehearsing what she wants to say. After a couple minutes of that, her nerves get the better of her and she starts towards the main building on the one end of the pool. As she approaches, she looks off to her left towards the concession area and doesn’t see Nicole. _Ok, I thought she might want some food on her break but that’s not the case._ When she looks right, the redhead is only a couple feet away, looking just about as anxious as Waverly is feeling right now.

Nicole smiles nervously, “So, your definition of five minutes is about exactly what I thought it would be...more like three.”

Waverly looks down at the ground sheepishly, “Sorry about that...just trying not to chicken out at the moment, to be honest.”

“Well in that case, let’s head this way.” Nicole gestures off to the right and the duo walks side by side about halfway down the wall to the door marked staff only.

The lifeguard pulls out her badge and swipes it across the reader to unlock the door. Pushing the door open slightly, she turns to look at Waverly, “After you.”

Waverly walks in and stops just inside the door as Nicole reaches for the light and softly closes the door behind her. Adjusting to her surroundings, Waverly can see that Nicole’s staff only room is really just a small supply room. Nicole walks the ten feet across the room and leans her back against the wall to give Waverly some space.

“Staff only room, huh?”

Nicole looks down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Waverly, “Yeah sorry about that. I just knew this would be one of the only places we could talk privately. If this doesn’t work, we can leave and find somewhere else.”

“No, we are already here. It’s fine.”

An awkward silence falls over the room as the girls both seem to be waiting for the other to talk. As Nicole watches Waverly looking around at all the supplies instead of looking at her, she realizes that even though Waverly wanted this conversation to happen, she is going to have to be the one to start it.

“So Waves, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Waverly ends up blurting out the first thing that comes to mind, “Us...I--I mean what happened in class on that last day of the Romeo and Juliet unit.”

“I mean, we killed it like we knew we would.”

The brunette gets a serious look in her eyes and makes pointed eye contact with Nicole, “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. We agreed that we weren’t going to go all out! And then you pulled out that performance and all I want to know is why?”

Nicole starts fidgeting with the ring around her finger while she takes a moment to respond. When she does, it is in a quiet and almost shameful tone, “I’m not proud of it but it may or may not have had something to do with Champ Hardy.”

Waverly crosses her arms in front of her chest, “Of course it did.” Seeing Nicole visibly cringe at her response, Waverly tries to soften her tone, “Will you tell me what happened?”

Nicole takes a deep breath before she starts in on her story, “That morning before class started, Champ cornered me at my locker. He said some things that I am not going to repeat but it’s what he said last that got under my skin. He told me that you would never care about me and so I wanted to prove him wrong.”

Now it’s Nicole who won’t make eye contact and so Waverly gives her a few seconds before she speaks, “Hey Nic, would you look at me?”

The lifeguard slowly lifts her head up to look at Waverly with tears just slightly starting to form in her eyes. It’s a look that truly breaks Waverly’s heart when she sees it and she realizes that all this time she has really given this girl nothing to go off of because she has been in her own head.

Taking a deep breath of her own, Waverly takes a few steps towards Nicole and addresses the girl standing in front of her, “I’m really sorry that happened to you and I didn’t know about it. But I’m more sorry that because of me, you believed him.”

Nicole furrows her eyebrows and Waverly continues, “I’m gonna be honest here, I don’t have everything figured out nor should we at our age. But there is one thing I have figured out and that’s that we met for a reason. You came here, we collided on that first day, and we have kept colliding in different ways since then. And it doesn’t make sense and maybe it’s not supposed to, but ever since the first day we met, I feel like I have always cared about you.”

As that last few words come out of Waverly’s mouth, the air seems to shift in the room. A million thoughts are running through Nicole’s head at Waverly’s confession and when she sees the nervous look on the brunette’s face, she knows she has to speak up herself.

“I care about you too, Waves. And I’m sorry that I completely blindsided you that day. It wasn’t fair of me to do under any circumstances. But there’s something else about that day that has been bothering me that I need an answer to.”

Waverly gulps almost audibly, “And what’s that?”

Nicole looks down at the girl who is now about an arm’s length away, “I thought I felt something change during that scene. I mean, you almost kissed me. It was hard to tell what feelings were real. Were any of them?”

Waverly looks up into those brown eyes and can see the conflict and apprehension swirling in them, “I don’t meet many people I care about. Everyone always leaves. But I care about you...a lot. And I don’t want to imagine my life without you in it.”

“I understand that Waves and I appreciate your answer but I also need more than that.”

Wynonna and Chrissy give each other a look as those words come out of Nicole’s mouth. Wynonna shoves Chrissy’s shoulder and whispers under her breath, “Here we go! Getting to the good stuff now!”

Chrissy puts her finger up to her lips to shush Wynonna and they refocus on the conversation happening inside the room.

“I don’t know what you want me to say Nicole.”

“This isn’t about what I want Waverly! This is about you and your feelings. I would never ask you to be someone you’re not.”

Waverly takes a step back from Nicole as she considers what she is saying. _This all came too fast...I still don’t have it figured out. I hope she can forgive me for this._ “Well, all you’re asking me is to be friends right?”

There it was. That proverbial nail in the coffin. That one word that takes the wind out of your sails instantaneously: friends. Nicole’s expression turns to stone almost immediately as she addresses the girl standing in front of her, “Sure Waverly, whatever you want. I need to get back to work now.”

Nicole goes to step around Waverly and hearing the commotion in the room, Wynonna and Chrissy quickly scatter around the corner so they can still try and see how this conversation ends. The door opens and Nicole comes out with Waverly hot on her trail.

The shorter girl reaches out and grabs Nicole’s arm before she gets too far away, “Hey! Come here and look at me for a sec.” Nicole turns in her direction and Waverly continues, “I’m sorry if you feel like I’m leading you on or something. I’m sorry that you thought I wanted to kiss you. I’m sorry that I don’t know if I wanted to kiss you...or if I still want to now.”

The redhead steps in closer so that she is right in front of Waverly and she hears her stop breathing. The tension between the girls is so thick it could be cut with a knife. “I think you know what you want, Waves. You just have to let yourself and stop worrying about other people and what they want or think. Put yourself first for once.”

Nicole walks away to gather her things and return to her shift, leaving Waverly standing there to contemplate what she just said. _That was not how I planned that conversation to go at all. I can’t believe I actually admitted that to her. Honestly even to myself._ The brunette shakes her head to herself and starts walking back towards where their group had set up shop for the day.

Once Waverly walks away, Wynonna and Chrissy come out from behind the corner. Chrissy looks at Wynonna with a twinkle in her eyes, “I’m not just imagining things right?! You heard that confession from Waverly too?”

“Yeah I heard her just actually admit to Haught that she has the hots for her...”

“You know what this means right?!”

Wynonna looks at Chrissy and smirks, “Operation WayHaught is still alive!”

“Damn right it is...and now we have work to do!”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, so I really hope that was worth the wait! Take care of some of the angst and create some more right? Gotta leave you wondering what the heck could possibly be ahead for sophomore year and guys.....you have no idea what crazy stuff I have planned. It is all very exciting lol.
> 
> As always, if you need to get your feels out, you can hit me up on here or Twitter @flugge34
> 
> Again, I want to thank each and every one of you that has read this fic. Being my first one, I didn't know how it was going to go and seeing your kudos and comments literally makes my day :) I honestly can't wait to get started on sophomore year and I will post something on this fic to link you to that one once I have started publishing!
> 
> Until next time, Earpers! <3


	7. UPDATE!!!!

Holy shit guys it has been 7 months since I posted.

I AM SO SORRY!!!!!

I'm gonna be honest, life has been an absolute crazy mess lol I honestly couldn't tell you where the last 7 months have gone.

But now what you guys are all really here for....

I know you are going to see a notification and a new chapter posted and be like OMG it's back!!!

I hate to break it to you, but I have not wrote a single word since I posted my last chapter back in January.

I don't really know what it was but I just couldn't get back into it. 

I couldn't see where I wanted to take it again. 

I didn't have the passion to write anything.

But.........if you are still here with me.........I AM STARTING TO WRITE AGAIN!!!!!

Now I know in the past I have written the entire year out basically and then posted week by week so you had a regular flow of chapters.

Since I have deprived you guys of content for so long, I decided to change it up.

I am going to post chapters as they are written this time!

So no regular weekly posts of chapters but you will at least be getting content sooner rather than later.

I hate to admit that writing takes me a long time for a multitude of reasons.

So as long as you will have me continue writing, I will continue plugging away so you can all see how this high school story turns out for our favorite Purgatory couple.

Once again, I am sorry that I have seemingly abandoned this story but I promise it is not over yet!!!

THIS STORY WILL CONTINUE!!!!!!!!

Much love Earpers and thank you for being so patient with me during this process. I can only hope to give you the best story I can and do it justice. I am so excited to start back up again and I still have so many ideas that I can't wait to put words to.

UNTIL NEXT TIME!!!! (And hopefully a soon next time) :)


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